Is Tyron Woodley risking disqualification with the choice of words?
A long time heated feud comes to a head next week. The last card in Las Vegas before the UFC heads back to Abu Dhabi with UFC 253 Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa. The hatred between Colby Covington and Tyron Woodley dates back roughly 4 years.
At The Apex the two former teammates get locked into a cage together with actually a lot on the line. Not only is this about bragging rights, but for all intents and purposes, the winner here might get a shot at the champion next. Whoever that may be. But should Kamaru Usman get past Gilbert Burns, an interesting rematch happens.
But before this goes down, there are some things that have arisen that need to be looked at closely. First, the Covid-19 spike that continues to happen in Florida. Tyron Woodley has chosen to do his fight camp not with RoufusSport, but with American Top Team in Coconut Creek. The virus has affected more than a handful of ATT fighters and coaches.
So one has to hope Tyron Woodley doesn't become one of them. Colby Covington although no longer at ATT, still trains in South Florida, so he too is on that roulette wheel. Next is a questionable act by "The Chosen One". Yes, this is the fight game, and violent talk is all part of the lead-up. Especially when you have two that hate each other as much as these two do.
However, Woodley's words may come back to bite him here. And it can easily set up an overturned result request by Covington if he comes up short on the 19th. Tyron Woodley said, in essence he would be willing to take a warning and a point deduction for hitting Colby Covington in the privates. Even if he's serious, it shows premeditation to fight dirty if the opportunity arises. And that can be argued and argued successfully.
Tyron Woodley needs this win more than Covington does too. He's 6 years older than "Chaos" at 38 and has shown progressive signs of slowing down and is on a 2 fight losing streak. And he's looked lost in both unanimous decision losses. That'll be the 1st time Colby Covington is back in the octagon since losing to Kamaru Usman, and even in that fight, his gas tank was top level. The card also has 4 others due to make interesting returns to the cage. Donald Cerrone, Mackenzie Dern, Johnny Walker, and Khamzat Chimaev.