Woodley: Why I didn’t take the 30%
“I don’t know his financial situation, but I think that there was enough going on with it, that it was just another unneeded penalty, because it felt like I was just taking his money.”
30 or 40 minutes before weigh ins on Friday, UFC welterweight Tyron Woodley was informed that opponent Kelvin Gastelum was not going to be able to make weight. Woodley decided to fight anyway, and was told he would get 30% of Gastelum’s purse. Woodley fought and beat Gastelum, despite breaking his foot in the first.
Here is the foot;
Then after fighting two plus rounds with that goot, Woodley said he wasn’t talking the 30%. That is a hero right there. Steph Daniels talked to Woodley about why.
I remember when I had my first loss against Nate Marquardt. When we go out there to fight, we basically put ourselves through the fire, and we’re not assuming we’ll be losing half our money. If the purse is $5000 to show and $5000 to win, in my mind, it’s $10,000, so I do my training camp with that in mind. Now, when you step in the cage, and you’ve put all your time, effort and money into it, and you lose, you’re only coming home with half your money, and sometimes, that can leave you economically strapped. I don’t know his financial situation, but I think that there was enough going on with it, that it was just another unneeded penalty, because it felt like I was just taking his money.
I’ve had fights that I felt I won, like when I fought Jake Shields, and that loss of the win bonus felt like somebody was taking my money. When I lost to Nate Marquardt, I was actually behind in rent on my gym, and I thought to myself, ‘How am I going to make it to the next fight?’ Those are the things that were going through my mind when I decided to give him the penalty money back.
I wasn’t told that he wasn’t going to make weight until 30 or 40 minutes before the actual weigh-in, so I didn’t have the luxury of knowing any earlier than that. Me, I still would have made weight. I want to be a world champion. You’ve got to be 170 scratch to be able to compete for the title. It’s not like they pull the numbers out of their ass, ‘Today it’s 175 or 180.’ It’s the same weight every time, and I would have made it on principle. They said to me, ‘You can go ahead and start drinking and rehydrating because he’s not going to make it.’ I said, ‘I’m not going to do that. My weight class is 170. I worked hard to come out here and look good and feel good,’ and that’s what I did.
I was really pissed off at the time, but not so much at him, as just the matter itself. I wasn’t mad at him, personally. He’s a young kid and might need some lifestyle changes or some reevaluation of his circle. I don’t know if he’s going to be allowed to keep fighting at welterweight, but if he is, he needs to walk around 15 pounds lighter. He’s not shredded with muscle or 6 feet tall. He’s 5’8, and he may need to mature up and make changes and adjustments.