On this day in 2017, Dana White was left changing plans for Georges St-Pierre after witnessing a welterweight title fight so bad that it broke records.
St-Pierre established himself as an all-time legend with a memorable stint at welterweight, where he enjoyed two UFC championship reigns and defeated the likes of Matt Hughes, BJ Penn, Matt Serra, Dan Hardy, Carlos Condit, and Nick Diaz.
After vacating the 170-pound title, the Canadian spent four years on the sidelines before making a grand return in 2017. Further adding to his already illustrious legacy, St-Pierre beat then-middleweight king Michael Bisping to become a two-division champion.
But that comeback fight at UFC 217 might have been entirely different if one of Bisping’s fellow champs had put on a better performance four months prior.
Dana White said terrible UFC 214 title defense cost Tyron Woodley the Georges St-Pierre fight
On this day, July 29, in 2017, the UFC 214 pay-per-view took place at Anaheim’s Honda Center. Before Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier’s championship rematch in the light heavyweight main event, another divisional title was at stake.
A year after he reached the welterweight throne, Tyron Woodley put his belt on the line for the third time. Having gotten through a two-fight series against Stephen Thompson with a draw and a win, Woodley was challenged by Demian Maia.
‘The Chosen One’ got past the tough stylistic test with a comfortable unanimous decision, but the five-round contest was far from entertaining. In fact, it was seen as so dull that a chorus of boos and “this is boring” chants rang around the arena.
Unsurprisingly, that left UFC president Dana White fuming.
“You ask fans if they want to see Woodley fight again, I think that’ll be a flat-out, ‘No,'” White said at the post-fight press conference. “Who wants to pay to see Tyron Woodley fight again?
“Listen, when you break a record for the least punches ever thrown in a five-round title fight, and it was about 130 and these guys threw 60 or something like that, I think that sums it up.”
And White later dished out a punishment of sorts for Woodley, stating in no uncertain terms that the welterweight champ had cost himself the chance to welcome the legendary ‘GSP’ back to action.
“Absolutely,” White said when asked if the fight impacted plans for Woodley to welcome St-Pierre back. “I’m probably not going to do that now.
“I’ll tell you what (that) means. It means really, really good things for Michael Bisping. Because I know if I do Michael Bisping versus ‘GSP’, Michael Bisping will fight him,” White added.
Tyron Woodley made a diss track on Dana White
The relationship between White and Woodley evidently did not improve during the latter stages of the former welterweight king’s UFC career.
After Woodley lost the title to Kamaru Usman in 2019, he went on to lose his next three fights. The final defeat came in quick fashion against Vicente Luque, after which Woodley exited the UFC having fought out his contract.
‘The Chosen One’ reignited his animosity toward his former boss this year, with Woodley revealing his ‘diss track’ was about White. The rap song was released in 2018, shortly after his successful title defense against Darren Till.
“That’s why I made that song ‘I’ll Beat Yo A–‘. If you listen to the lyrics, it was for Dana White,” Woodley said on coach Eric Nicksick’s Verse Us podcast.
“I couldn’t say I wanted to beat Dana White’s a–, but I wanted to bad because he made me look stupid,” Woodley added, referencing his inability to hit back at the criticism he was facing at the time.