Tyron Woodley once took some public shots at Dana White without his boss even realizing it.
In September 2018, Woodley was fresh off of a dominant welterweight title defense against Darren Till at UFC 228. “The Chosen One” had rattled off four straight successful defenses in the midst of a contentious relationship with White (then president, now CEO), which was exacerbated by comments White made after a different Woodley championship bout.
Following Woodley’s win over Demian Maia at UFC 214, White was critical of the lack of action, putting the onus on Woodley for failing to finish the fight. That prompted Woodley to include a special message for White in his debut rap single, I’ll Beat Yo Ass, which was released shortly after his fight with Till.
“That’s why I made that song I’ll Beat Yo Ass,” Woodley said on the Verse Us podcast.. “If you listen to the lyrics it was for Dana White. I couldn’t say I wanted to beat Dana White’s ass, but I wanted to bad because he made me look stupid. Why are you going to sit here and act like, everybody, [Michael] Bisping and [Kenny] Florian were laughing, I’m like, ‘Ha ha ha, I’ll beat both your asses.’—not Florian, that’s my dog—but yeah, you made me look stupid and then went I went on air I couldn’t defend myself. So somebody said somebody they shut my mic off. In my ear, ‘You can’t reply. You can’t say nothing. You can’t speak on this.’”
Woodley reigned as UFC welterweight champion from 2016-2019. During his run at the top, he rarely hid his displeasure with how the organization promoted him and his desire to fight older, well-known fighters like Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz regardless of their retirement status.
From Woodley’s perspective, he made the most of the leverage he had, and the UFC didn’t appreciate his negotiation tactics.
“I feel like they felt like, ‘This motherf*cker thinks he’s too smart,’” Woodley said. “That’s kind of what I always felt. But I’m not going to dumb myself down for nobody. I know everybody’s numbers. When you’re a fighter, and you know everybody’s numbers, I go to the negotiation table differently. If I know somebody is negotiating a new deal each fight no matter if they’re on a 10-fight deal or not, if I’m the champion, motherf*cker now it’s my time to do that. I was on the same management team with an athlete that was doing that.
“So when I fought Robbie [Lawler], you’ve got to recognize Robbie was American Top Team, he was managed by Dan Lambert. So a lot of the negotiation to fight me I know about. I know you got an extra $250,000 to fight me.”
Woodley defeated Lawler at UFC 201 via first-round knockout to become welterweight champion. He went on to defend his title against Till, Maia, and Stephen Thompson (twice, due to their first fight ending in a majority draw).
None of that was part of the UFC’s plan, according to Woodley. He claims officials were looking to book Lawler against St-Pierre or Conor McGregor if he defeated Woodley at UFC 201. Woodley threw a wrench in those plans and later found himself disappointed that he wasn’t granted the same opportunities afforded to Lawler.
“The rift started before then, but the big rift of the power dispute is I know what he was offered,” Woodley said. “If this is the NCAA tournament, and he’s the first seed and I beat the first seed, motherf*cker I’m the first seed. So I want everything that he was about to get. I want everything that you talked about. I want every little perk. I want every little extra under the table, and I was relentless on it.”
Check out the lyrics to I’ll Beat Yo Ass below, courtesy of Genius Lyrics.
[Intro: TWOODLEY & Wiz Khalifa]
Uh (Uh)Hahahaha (Yeah, gang)Best welterweight in the world (Best welterweight in the world)On God (On God)TWOODLEY (TWOODLEY)Uh, y’all in trouble (Yeah, yeah, uh, yeah)
[Chorus: T-Dubb-O & Wiz Khalifa]
I’ll beat your ass (Yeah)I’ll beat your ass (Yeah)I’ll beat your ass (Yeah)I’ll beat your ass (Yeah)I’ll beat ‘em, on God, though (Yeah)Talk slick, move quick like a macho (Uh)Where have you, huh? Back with my eyes closed (What? Wow)You can’t fuck with me, yeah, I know (Yeah, look, I’ll)Beat your ass (Yeah)I’ll beat your ass (Yeah)I’ll beat your ass (Beat your ass, uh)I’ll beat your ass (Beat your ass, yeah)I’ll beat ‘em, on God, though (Yeah)Talk slick, move quick like a macho (Yeah)Where have you, huh? Back with my eyes closed (Uh)You can’t fuck with me, yeah, I know (Yeah, look, I’ll)
[Verse 1: TWOODLEY]
Beat your ass in real life, beat your ass on TV (N*gga)I’ll beat your ass with some beef shit, beat your ass on GBPull up on that slick tip, n*ggas run when they see meNow your eyes fuckin’ poppin’ out, you seein’ shit in 3DBeat your head to the white meat (Bow), knock out all your white teeth (Gone)
One fruit punch on your shirt for n*ggas thinkin’ that I’m sweet (Uh-uh)Walls loaded with concrete (Yup), fingertips with NyquilQuick to put a n*gga right to sleep (Uh-uh), he lookin’ like he might scream (Oh)Hands on that, H-O-D (H-O-D)When I’m in this octagon, I’m G-O-D (G-O-D)Get that ass beat live on TV (On TV)N*gga layin’ out, glad it won’t be me (Uh-uh)
[Chorus: T-Dubb-O & Wiz Khalifa]
I’ll beat your ass (Yeah)I’ll beat your ass (Yeah)I’ll beat your ass (Yeah)I’ll beat your ass (Yeah)I’ll beat ‘em, on God, though (Yeah)Talk slick, move quick like a macho (Uh)Where have you, huh? Back with my eyes closed (What? Wow)You can’t fuck with me, yeah, I know (Yeah, look, I’ll)Beat your ass (Yeah)I’ll beat your ass (Yeah)I’ll beat your ass (Beat your ass, uh)I’ll beat your ass (Beat your ass, yeah)I’ll beat ‘em, on God, though (Yeah)Talk slick, move quick like a macho (Yeah)Where have you, huh? Back with my eyes closed (Uh)You can’t fuck with me, yeah, I know (Yeah, look, I’ll)
[Verse 2: Wiz Khalifa]
Beat your ass, I’ll hit that gasI’ll roll up the joint of the kush, ain’t enough in the bag, can’t lastI was raised up on that block where them n*ggas stay fastI’ll take a n*gga out like a n*gga do that trashWatch a n*gga move right past, oh, I’m more lit than youWhat would a real n*gga do? Ooh, fuckin’ up you and your crew, oohI had a long day, I’m cool, but I ain’t in the moodAnd, no, I just ain’t bein’ rude, you push me, I might make a moveOn the ground, on the ground, fuck with me, that’s where you goin’, it’s goin’ downGoin’ down, test me and you already know and I’m with the champTrain hard, so I already got the stampYoung n*ggas try, but can’t, try to explain, but I think y’all don’t understand
[Chorus: T-Dubb-O & Wiz Khalifa]
I’ll beat your ass (Yeah, hahaha)I’ll beat your ass (Yeah, uh)I’ll beat your ass (Yeah, hahahahaha)I’ll beat your ass (Yeah, yeah)I’ll beat ‘em, on God, though (Yeah)Talk slick, move quick like a macho (Uh)Where have you, huh? Back with my eyes closed (What? Wow)You can’t fuck with me, yeah, I know (Yeah, look, I’ll)Beat your ass (Yeah)I’ll beat your ass (Yeah)I’ll beat your ass (Beat your ass, uh)I’ll beat your ass (Beat your ass, yeah)I’ll beat ‘em, on God, though (Yeah)Talk slick, move quick like a macho (Let’s go)Where have you, huh? Back with my eyes closed (Uh)You can’t fuck with me, yeah, I know (Look, I’ll)
