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'Sean Strickland is a hillbilly with no filter' slams ex-UFC champion Tyron Woodley

EXCLUSIVE: Ex-UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has hit back at Sean Strickland's disparaging comments about women's MMA - calling the UFC star a "hillbilly with no filter"

[Sean Strickland]

Sean Strickland controversially claimed that most people don't like to watch women's MMA (Image: Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has slammed Sean Strickland for disrespecting women's MMA.

Woodley, 41, ranks as one of the greatest champions in his division, having defended the title four times before losing it in a unanimous decision against future champion Kamaru Usman. 'The Chosen One' left the UFC in 2021 before transitioning to boxing, where he fought Jake Paul twice in five months.

The MMA legend lost the first fight via a split-decision before getting brutally knocked out by the YouTube star in their rematch which he took on short-notice after Tommy Fury pulled out due to an injury.

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Despite his retirement from MMA, Woodley has stayed close to the sport via his gym ATT Evolution where last week on International Women's Day (March 8) he gave women free training sessions as he spoke exclusively to Daily Star Sport where he slammed Strickland - a former UFC middleweight champion - for his belittling of women in fighting.

Earlier this year, the controversial 33-year-old said: "Here is the thing guys, let's be honest I am not going to be offensive, WNBA and NBA, Who watches what? Who makes more money? Women's MMA, I dont like to watch it, I dont think most people like to watch it" before adding "nobody is going to watch women's MMA if it gets separated from male MMA".

Where does Tyron Woodley rank among the greatest UFC champions of all-time? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below

[Woodley defended his UFC welterweight title four times ]

Woodley defended his UFC welterweight title four times (Image: Zuffa LLC)

In response to Strickland's contentious comments, Woodley said: "I take Sean Strickland with a grain of salt, as I see his interviews. I really think he's just a hillbilly with no filter. When he says something you kind of just take it as humor, so I almost put him in a category as a comedian that dances a the line of getting cancelled without getting cancelled.

"So, with that said, he's kind of funny to me. I like his little personality, but things that he say I don't really take seriously. And I know he can be saying some stuff, that could dance the line of being offensive, but I don't take his remarks seriously."

[Sean Strickland]

Sean Strickland was criticised for his disparaging comments on women's MMA (Image: Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

The Missouri native recently dedicated an episode of his 'Real Shhh Real Quick' podcast to shine a light on female fighters today as he opened up about the influence of female pioneers in MMA like Ronda Rousey during the exclusive chat.

"Without Ronda Rousey our sport wouldn't be where it's at today," he admitted. "Without Ronda Rousey we would never have been bought out by WME, without Ronda Rousey, we would have never had a 70-year-old woman in the airport asking me if I've seen the Ronda Rousey fight.

[Tyron Woodley celebrating his UFC title defence ]

The American reigned as UFC champion for three years (Image: Zuffa LLC)

"Some people were not watching mixed martial arts, they that it was a barbaric bar-fighting type sport, and she helped us transcend across a lot of different barriers."

Woodley remarked that Strickland has "definitely watched Ronda Rousey" as he underlined just how influential her run in MMA was to grow the sport to new heights.

"So I would say she's probably top five most impactful fighters that they kind of grew our sport. So you gotta give her credit for what she's done. So he's definitely watched Ronda Rousey and I wouldn't put her in the category that he was talking about," he added.

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