Tyron Woodley Responds to Backlash for Masvidal Pics

Tyron Woodley was recently subjected to criticism from fans and fighters alike for taking pictures chumming up with Jorge Masvidal after Masvidal knocked out his best friend, Ben Askren, in five seconds at UFC 239. Granted, the fighters who made the criticism were Colby Covington and Dillon Danis, who are both known for trolling fighters via the internet regularly, but there was general backlash in Woodley’s direction on the internet, with some believing the pictures were in bad taste and demonstrated a lack of loyalty to Askren. On the latest installment of The Hollywood Beatdown, Tyron Woodley set the record straight about the photos:

“I’m a part of First Round Management, OK?” Woodley began. “Jorge Masvidal’s also a part of First Round Management, and so is Jon Jones. So surprisingly, me, Jon, and Jorge have some of the same sponsors. So we were doing a commercial….and then Jorge Masvidal was in a shoot with me. We trained so many years together.

“Now I wasn’t like, ‘Yeah, I’m so happy you knocked my guy the fuck out,” Woodley continued. “I’m not thinking that. But I’m thinking like, ‘Am I gonna be mean to him?’ No, I have to do a shoot with him for six hours. We had a four-to-six hour shoot together, we gotta be around each other. I want to have good energy to make it well. A couple pictures were taken, boom, boom, you guys all got on these shirts, looked dope, let’s get the product placement. But then I didn’t think about it: ‘Damn, he knocked out my homie.’ And now, everybody on the internet like, ‘Oh, my god. You’re not a good friend, dah, dah, dah, dah.”