Dana White Frustrated By Tyron Woodley’s Refusal To Fight Hector Lombard

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Sometimes even the president doesn’t get what he wants.

Dana White was looking to have Hector Lombard vs. Tyron Woodley headline Australia’s PPV in December. While Lombard seemed eager about the match, his proposed opponent definitely was anything but.

On Friday, White spoke to the media and said that he had a meeting with Tyron Woodley and personally asked him to accept a match with Lombard. White’s point was that with Woodley, Lombard, and #1 contender Robbie Lawler all in the same division and all from the same camp, 2/3 would have to fight at some point.

“I sat down with Woodley after his fight in China,” White said. “And, he won easily, quick in and out. I said listen, we need you again, what do you think about fighting Hector Lombard in Australia, main event. He said ‘that’s my teammate man, I don’t want to fight my teammate.’ I said dude, your teammate, you guys are three of the top five. You have to fight each other.”

According to White, Lombard sent the following text message to him last week underscoring his interest in the bout.

“I’m literally flying here [to Sacramento], I’m on the plane, I’m wheels up, and I get a text from Hector Lombard that says, ‘please get this Woodley fight done for me, I want this fight so bad, he’s a two-faced phony and I want to beat his ass.’ Literally what he said to me. So I called Woodley when I landed, and said, obviously this isn’t a teammate thing, here’s what your teammate said, and he wants this fight bad. And he said he 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. He started telling me all these reasons why he doesn’t want this fight. I said, whatever kid. Do your thing. But he wants nothing to do with Hector.”