Tyron Woodley claims to have been offered to fight Colby Covington next and he's accepted it
Former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley claims to have already been offered and agreed to fight former interim welterweight champion Colby Covington after the former's humiliating defeat against Brazilian fighter Gilbert Burns in the main event of UFC on ESPN 9.
Woodley and Covington share a long-standing rivalry among themselves and Woodley was even supposed to throw down against "Chaos" after the latter won the interim title in his absence. However, since Covington was required to undergo surgery at that time, Englishman Darren Till stepped up to the plate and fought "T-Wood".
Woodley successfully defended the title against Till only to lose it against reigning champion Kamaru Usman at UFC 235. Following the loss against Burns, Woodley is on a two-fight losing streak.
Tyron Woodley vs. Colby Covington is a superfight that was always on the cards but somehow never came to fruition. Finally, according to Woodley, the UFC has now offered him the chance to shake off back to back defeats with a big win against Covington and the former readily accepted the challenge.
In a recent interview with ESPN, Woodley said that he knows Covington thinks he's washed out after back to back defeats and will certainly be complacent so this is the best time to fight the outspoken welterweight. So when the opportunity came his way, T-Wood jumped at it.
“They offered me that fight, I told them I’m in. I mean, I just don’t want to talk a lot about Colby because Colby is an actor, man. I know what he is doing and it makes sense and it’s kind of fun to watch. But, at the end of the day, Colby has turned me down five or six times. After losing two fights back-to-back it may be a time he may accept it because he may think I’m down and out. That was the first thing they [UFC] did. They wanted to see if I was alright then they offered me the fight against Colby. I told Malki [Kawa] to make sure you tell them today, yes."
Woodley suffered a nasty cut during the fight against Burns that will keep him out for at least two more months and T-Wood hopes that Covington doesn't skip him this time around.
"I got a contusion I have to deal and I can’t fight anyway for 45-60 days because of the cut. I’ve been icing six, seven times a day, ibuprofen, so I’ve been doing the right stuff. Fighting Colby right now is like fighting this race war. This brutality and just the unsettling climate of our culture. I’m just going to take it as that. So, they have offered me Colby and I once again have accepted and we will see what happen.”
Although Woodley has accepted the fight, it remains to be seen if Covington is willing to do the same. Covington recently stated that he plans to fight Usman in a rematch of their encounter at UFC 245 or take on former teammate Jorge Masvidal.