Tyron Woodley throws his support behind Din Thomas: "Everybody wants to say something"

Tyron Woodley has emerged as one of the few MMA figures to support Din Thomas amid the backlash he's received for his ill-timed comments at UFC 330. According to Woodley, Thomas had every right to use the UFC 330 post-fight show as a platform to speak his mind and announce his decision to withdraw from cornering.

Tyron Woodley defends Din Thomas from criticism

After Gillian Robertson failed to dethrone Mackenzie Dern as the UFC women's strawweight champion, losing to her via unanimous decision at UFC 330, her moment was overshadowed on the post-fight show. While at the analysts desk, Din Thomas, who cornered Robertson, announced his decision to retire from cornering, while also expressing his belief that the title fight was as far as Robertson could go in her career. His comments and their timing drew near-universal backlash from the MMA world. However, one person standing in his corner, no pun intended, is former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, who said the following in an interview with MMA Fighting (0:55):

"If it was on his spirit to say that at that moment in time that he decided to... maybe I wouldn't have done it, maybe you wouldn't have done it, but that don't mean he shouldn't have done it. And everybody wanna say something because it's fun to jump on the boat and be the Devil's Advocate and be, 'Oh, it's disgraceful.' Like, sometimes it's the people he worked with too. Sometimes it's the people he works with, some people that're smiling in his face, like Din's my guy for real. I had to catch myself because I was going at it with people."

Woodley's loyalty to Thomas led to a fiery text exchange between him and reigning UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland, who was among the many MMA figures to criticize Thomas for his comments. Regardless of Woodley's support, Thomas has since apologized to Robertson. Unfortunately for him, she rejected his apology, which she described as insincere. Now, Thomas is under increased scrutiny, especially with talk of him already walking back on his comments, as he's reportedly ready to corner Sean Brady against Gabriel Bonfim at UFC Vegas 124.