ANAHEIM, CA - JULY 29: Tyron Woodley poses for a portrait backstage after his victory over Demian Maia during the UFC 214 event at Honda Center on July 29, 2017 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Coach Din Thomas reflects on the fallout of Tyron Woodley’s performance at UFC 214 against Demian Maia and hopes things don’t get ugly between Woodley and UFC President Dana White.

Din Thomas has been in Tyron Woodley’s corner long before the current UFC welterweight champion was on anybody’s radar. Throughout the years, Thomas has helped mold Woodley into the explosive champion that sits atop the UFC’s welterweight division today.

On Saturday at UFC 214, Thomas was once again in Woodley’s corner for the third time within a year of his fighter becoming champion, a pace that no other current UFC champion can say they have fought. While successfully defending the title against Demian Maia, the fans and most notably, UFC President Dana White, were not pleased with the fight.

“It’s a big conflict of interest really where MMA is right now,” Thomas explained speaking on the Slip ‘n Dip Podcast.

Woodley took away Maia’s most dangerous ability inside the Octagon during their fight at UFC 214, his Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, by stuffing over twenty takedown attempts. Fans became restless as the fight wore on over five rounds due to the lack of strikes as Woodley shut down Maia’s grappling attempts.

“The reality is this – if we didn’t want a sport and we just wanted to be entertained, why are there weight classes? Why do they have to weigh in? Why are there even judges? Why are there rules and regulations? It’s not like Tyron did anything to cheat,” Thomas questioned.

“Fighters fight within the rules and they fight to the best of their ability to win the fight. If winning wasn’t the ultimate goal of a sport, then why have a winner? Why not just have entertainment? Why not just have a fifteen-minute time limit and wait ’till somebody gets knocked out? But the reality is, this is a sport and you gotta do what you gotta do to win.”

When a fighter comes in with a game plan to shut down his opponent, taking away his strengths while not sustaining damage, why do fans not appreciate calculated strategy in the same manner as two guys just swinging for the fences?

“The one thing I understand with fans is that they vicariously live through fighters,” Thomas said. “In their own head, they see themselves as this warrior that would just go out on their shield, and they want to battle, and they want to be in these epic fights. These back and forth epic battles. They live vicariously through fighters.”

Thomas continued, “When they see a guy not going through that they automatically say, ‘This guy is boring. I don’t like that guy. I want to see a guy who’s willing to just stand there and take punishment because that’s how I would do it if I was a fighter, but I’m not tough enough to fight, so I want them to go through it for me.’ But the reality is, every fighter I know would fight like Floyd Mayweather…if they could.”

Mayweather, one of boxing’s greatest ever, has created a legacy on the mantra of “hit and not get hit,” building a 49-0 professional record employing a defense-first mentality.

“Every fighter I know would fight like Floyd Mayweather if they could, but they can’t,” Thomas said. “The ones that really can’t, tend to be journeymen and they have to fight to entertain because they don’t have the ability to make it to that championship level. So what they do is they gain their fans by fighting for entertainment.”

For Woodley, who knocked out Robbie Lawler in record time to become champion at UFC 201, has become a fighter who has not resonated with fans since that performance. Two contests against Stephen Thompson and the most recent outing against Maia have all gone the distance in fights that fans were not thrilled about afterward.

“They don’t appreciate this as a sport. All they want to see is two guys just buckle down and go toe to toe and they value that in the rankings or in the public eye. To me, I just don’t get it,” said Thomas.

Not only have fans been upset with the lack of action in the bouts, but UFC President Dana White was extremely critical of Woodley after UFC 214. During the UFC 214 pre-fight press conference, White stated if Woodley secured a win over Maia, he would be given a fight against former champ Georges St-Pierre. However, after the fight on Saturday evening, White changed his mind as a result of how the fight played out in addition to delivering other critical comments on the performance during the post-fight press conference.

Those comments prompted Woodley to respond by threatening to “leak things” if he was not issued a public apology by the boss. Thomas, a friend of White’s who has appeared on episodes of Dana White’s Lookin’ for a Fight, understands White’s responsibility to the fans but hopes things don’t get ugly between the two.

“Tyron, he’s been my man from day one and I’ve gotta support him. I don’t know what he could possibly leak and I hope it doesn’t come down to that because it’s not a good thing when guys are beefin’,” said Thomas.

Perhaps what was unknown to White before being so critical of Woodley’s performance, was the fact that Woodley suffered a shoulder injury early in the fight.

“He promises the fans good fights and when they’re not happy, obviously he has to take their side. I get that, but sometimes I think he jumps the gun a little bit, especially with Woodley,” Thomas said.

“Tyron, he tore his shoulder after the first round. Now, had Tyron came back to the corner holding his shoulder and visibly shown he was injured and fought through that, this would be a whole different narrative.”

At the end of the day, Thomas feels he fulfilled his obligations as a mixed martial arts coach whether the fans found the fight exciting or not.

“As a coach, my goal is two things – to win and make sure my fighter goes home safely to his family. Tyron has done that every time he’s fought with me.”