Kamaru Usman says Tyron Woodley holds the edge over Colby Covington in upcoming fight
UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman has shared his views on the highly-anticipated fight between Colby Covington and former champion Tyron Woodley set to go down at UFC Fight Night: Covington vs. Woodley on 20th September.
Kamaru Usman sure knows a thing or two about both Covington and Woodley as the former has beaten both men inside the Octagon. "The Nigerian Nightmare" beat Woodley in March 2019 to capture the UFC welterweight title and later successfully defended the belt against Covington in December.
On the UFC Vegas 9 post-fight show, Kamaru Usman provided his take on the upcoming fight between two of the best welterweights in the world and potentially, the future challengers to his title.
“This is an intriguing fight. I love this fight,” Usman said (via MMA Fighting). “This is a grudge match that should have happened a long time ago. I think that this is the best and possibly the worst case scenario for Tyron Woodley,” Usman continued. “As far as style matchups, I think this is probably one of the worst stylistic matchups for him after coming off back-to-back fights with guys that pressure him. Guys that can grapple as well and guys that kind of throw some volume."
Kamaru Usman believes that Woodley will have an edge in the fight due to the fact that the latter is "a specialist" when it comes to methodically breaking down southpaws inside the Octagon.
“This is a tremendous matchup for Tyron Woodley because Tyron Woodley is a specialist when it comes to dealing with southpaws,” Usman added. “He knows how to angle off, to kind of guide them into that big right hand that he has.”
Kamaru Usman is scheduled to defend the UFC welterweight title against Gilbert Burns at UFC 256 this December. The winner of this Colby Covington vs. Tyron Woodley fight may well be challenging the winner of Usman vs. Burns in the near future.