Dana White has revealed that the UFC have been attempting to put together a major welterweight fight between top 6 contenders Tyron Woodley and Hector Lombard, but have been unsuccessfuly because Woodley, “wants nothing to do with Hector.”
White said he first approached Woodley about fighting Lombard in Australia in December after his 61 second TKO against Dong Hyun Kim at UFC Fight Night 48 last weekend.
According to White, Woodley turned the fight down based on the fact that Lombard is one of his training partners at the ATT gym.
On the other hand Lombard made it clear he had no problems fighting his team-mate, and in fact as things developed it turns out that he’s champing at the bit to get into the Octagon with him.
“Please get this Woodley fight done for me,” White claims Lombard texted him. “I want this fight so bad, he’s a two-faced phony and I want to beat his ass.”
White figured that would be enough to convince Woodley to take the fight, but apparently T-Wood still had a handful of other excuses why he wouldn’t fight Lombard.
“[Woodley] said [Lombard] can say whatever he wants, he’s about him and he’s always about him, this fight doesn’t work for me and my brand,” White recalled. “He started telling me all these reasons why he doesn’t want this fight. I said, whatever kid.”
A former Bellator middleweight champion, Lombard moved down to the welterweight division in October of last year and has so far racked up two wins, including a first round KO victory over Nate Marquardt. He boast an overall 34-4-1 (+1nc) record and is currently ranked No.6 in the weight class.
Woodley hold a 4-2 record in the UFC so far and has an overall 14-3 run as a professional altogether, beating a number of notable names along the way including the aforementioned Kim last time out, Carlos Condit, Josh Koscheck, Paul Daley and Tarec Saffiedine to name but a few.
It’s a fight that on paper makes a lot of sense, but as things stand it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, and White is now considering other potential opponents for Lombard to face in the main event of the December 8th show in Sydney.
