Tyron Woodley Responds to Sean Strickland's Comments on Din Thomas

Tyron Woodley has publicly addressed the contentious situation involving Sean Strickland's Instagram direct messages, which also involved Din Thomas. Woodley shared his exclusive response with Bowks Talking Bouts ahead of his fight against Joaquin Buckley at RAF 12 on August 22nd.

Din Thomas found himself in a difficult position following ill-timed remarks made after his fighter, Gillian Robertson, lost a UFC title fight to Mackenzie Dern at UFC 330. Thomas announced his retirement from cornering fighters shortly after Robertson's significant loss, a decision that drew considerable criticism.

Among those who commented was the outspoken UFC middleweight champion, Sean Strickland. Strickland humorously chimed in on the discourse surrounding Din Thomas, stating:

"Din Thomas is a f—ing c—. I’ve had my a– kicked in multiple weight classes through my career and won two titles. You’re a d— head. It’s probably better you retire. You’re a s— coach. You only lose when you quit… Din sounds like you’re a f—ing loser.”

Woodley, who himself has been coached by Din Thomas, sent a private message to Sean Strickland on social media. Strickland subsequently shared a screenshot of this exchange on his X account. In the initial message, Woodley wrote:

“Watch your mouth talking about Din. You have no clue wtf you talking about. We laugh all the time when you have no filter, but you a habitual line crosser. I’m ride or die about him. Don’t cross that line.”

Strickland's reply in the direct messages was:

“Bro what are you gonna do?? You ain’t gonna do a damn thing lmao. Din can suck my c*ck. Weak ass b*tch.”

Strickland also accompanied his post of the message excerpt with a jab at Woodley's recent record, humorously remarking:

“Bro let the CTE get to him and forgot his record is a red line.”

Discussing this online drama, Woodley explained his perspective to Bowks Talking Bouts:

“I don’t focus a lot on it. I messaged him directly because Din Thomas is a near and dear brother to me, more than a friend. He’s a big piece of why I was who I was in the UFC and why we did what we did. Because it was me fighting, but it was a collective team that came together and he was a big, big piece of that team as my head coach. Certain people that I have loyalty to. I’m not going to let nobody talk crazy about him.”

“I messaged [Strickland] directly and he decided to share our message on social media but what he didn’t show is we ended it with respect and I had to think about it and check myself. Because the saying freedom of speech like freedom of speech is good to have but it’s also dangerous to have. Because it’s like you got to [let it go] across the board, let it happen. Just like I may not have said what Din said when he said it, but I understand where it came from.”

“Especially, not so much Gillian [Robertson]. I was a lot. I was the one that probably gave him the most gray hairs, you know what I mean? Dealing with this and dealing with that in training camp. This and this and injuries and going around. Opponents and shifting and timing, and getting into it with the brass. He was doing the Dana White: Lookin’ For a Fight show, right, with Dana and [Matt] Serra. But then I was going at it with Dana.”

“I put him in a lot of weird positions and it was very stressful for him. I even apologized to him for some of the things that I could have left some of the the dysfunctional things out of the camp and stuck to the greatness. He said, “No, it’s all a part of it.” I felt like I needed to apologize to him. I felt like it was more about how how much it took for him to corner me than it was Gillian. Gillian was; Gillian’s easy.”

“She don’t say much. She don’t need much, right? But I’m just defensive over my people and I reached out to him and I just basically said, “You need to keep my coach’s name out of your mouth.” I didn’t threaten him, you know what I mean? But if I saw him and if I knew he was at, if I saw him in person, I would walk up to him and I would say the same thing. I may say it a little differently, right? But I’m a fighter, too, though.”

“Like, what were we talking about? Fighting [laughs]? You know what I mean? You can’t even fight me. You’re not even in a situation where you’re allowed to even do anything. You can wrestle, but how’s that going to work out for you? So, we end it with respect. He chose not to share that piece of it.”

“But I do appreciate the fact that at the end of the conversation, no matter how unfiltered [Strickland] is, no matter how tonedeaf he could be at times. No matter how he’s enjoying the going back and forth and being a heel, it did end with respect and I will give him that.”

Sean Strickland is “quick to be hugging…. and saying I was just kidding right after the fight”, per Woodley

Woodley commented on the selective sharing of their direct messages by Strickland, noting how social media can be used to craft a specific narrative. He stated:

“Yeah, for sure. Like I said before, he has a freedom to speech and go at my coach. Say whatever you want to say and call him names if you want to. I had to check myself because the same thing that I’m defending my coach on, his ability to have that right to do that, and I have the right and ability to message you. You also have the right and ability to post what I said and still go after my coach. So my problem more so is with the freedom of speech and less of him.”

“So I just I backed away from it because it’s not a world I need to be into. Like it ain’t no beef. He don’t know what beef is. Like that ain’t beef. Like beef is something that these fighters in press conferences and all this other stuff is not. Cuz they be quick to be hugging. Hugging and saying I was just kidding right after the fight. So it ain’t real beef.”