NEW YORK — Tyron Woodley and Conor McGregor aren’t exactly the best of friends. But Woodley did McGregor quite a solid Saturday night.
After McGregor’s second-round knockout of Eddie Alvarez gave him the lightweight championship to add to his featherweight title, The Notorious loudly wondered why he wasn’t wearing two belts. UFC president Dana White quickly took care of that, though, and McGregor beamed in the Madison Square Garden octagon as the promotion’s first two-division champion.
So, where did White get a belt so quickly? From Woodley, who let The Notorious borrow his own belt to parade in front of the Garden crowd.
“I’m a professional at the end of the day,” the UFC welterweight champion said at the post-fight press conference after initially side-stepping a question about giving up his belt. “It’s obvious that the majority of the crowd is here to see Conor McGregor. He’s built this mystique that everyone wants to watch him fight … so it’s silly for me to go out there and try to turn the crowd on my side when I know 90 percent are here mainly to watch Conor, win or lose, so I just really took myself out of that.”
Woodley and McGregor had a brief confrontation at Friday’s weigh-in, and that led to a Twitter back-and-forth just 24 hours before the biggest card in UFC history. Woodley seemingly is upset that McGregor also wants to add the welterweight belt to his collection, but if The Notorious does go for a third, he should remember one thing.
“Just for the record, I’m not supposed to bring his belt. He’s supposed to bring his belt,” UFC president Dana White said. “He’s jumping on me because I don’t have his belt. You’re supposed to bring your belt, and I give you the new belt.”
McGregor still had Woodley’s belt at the post-fight press conference. Could that be a sign of The Notorious’ future intentions?
Thumbnail photo via Adam Hunger/USA TODAY Sports Images
