Tyron Woodley Goes Off On Colby Covington For Declining UFC 228 Fight

UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has his next title defense set against rising prospect Darren Till at the upcoming UFC 228 pay-per-view event but that hasn’t stopped not only the media but also the champ from talking about interim welterweight champion Colby Covington.

It’s well known that Covington was supposed to be the next in line for Woodley and the title but Covington recently underwent surgery to correct a nasal issue, which obviously would lead to some recovery time as a result but the UFC needs fights and they are on this trend of having two title fights for all pay-per-view events. Thus, UFC decided it would strip Covington of the belt after he declined a fight at UFC 228 because he’s out until October or November.

Woodley recently went on the attack on Covington as he was asked if Covington would be his next opponent if he can get past Till, which the welterweight champ responded, “no.”

“He’s basically shown us he’s a (expletive), and he never really wanted to fight in the first place,” Woodley told reporters including MMAJunkie backstage at UFC 227 on Saturday at Staples Center. “That was for you guys. I’m willing to beat anybody. You guys, the fans, and Brazil, and all the people he disrespected, and people that knew his antics were complete frickin’ horrible scripted elementary antics, you guys wanted to see him get his ass whooped. And I was just going to do it because he was next up.”

“It was quiet,” Woodley said. “Jon (Jones) was gone. Conor (McGregor) was gone. Ronda (Rousey) said peace out. What did we really have? So why am I going to shutter his dreams and remove the cape on his whole show. Hey, if it builds up a fight with me, I’ll make some money. You’re the easiest matchup in the division. Why not let it go forward?

“Now, it’s a different opponent (in Till), one that style-wise presents way more threats to me. Bigger, stronger, more powerful, hungrier, and actually means what he says. He doesn’t say much, but what he says he really means it.”

The UFC 228 pay-per-view event is set to take place on Saturday, September 8, 2018 in Dallas, Texas at the American Airlines Center.