ATT Coach Mike Brown: “Darren Till getting UFC title shot devalues UFC belts”
Just when you thought the UFC welterweight division couldn’t be anymore controversial or wild, think again, because now a whole new bit of controversy has escalated.
Earlier this week it was reported that Darren Till had become the #1 contender for Tyron Woodley’s undisputed UFC welterweight championship and will face Woodley on September 8 at UFC Dallas in the main event.
Originally, the fight was suppose to be Woodley defending his belt in a unification bout against then interim welterweight champion Colby Covington.
Unfortunately for Covington however, that is not the case as it was revealed Tuesday, he had suffered an injury to his nasal which had required surgery, thus leaving him able to compete against Woodley just six weeks from now.
Needing to find the next suitable contender, the UFC elected Till as the man that will now oficially get the shot at the undisputed UFC welterweight championship against Tyron Woodley in the main event of UFC Dallas.
Once the fight was officially made, UFC President Dana White announced that Colby Covington would be stripped of his UFC interim welterweight title.
Disappointed by the decision of his fighter’s title stripping, Covington’s head coach Mike Brown spoke to MMA Fighting yesterday at the UFC on Fox open workouts to express he and American Top Team’s frustration.
“I’m pretty bummed about it,” Brown said. “I just feel like its devaluing the belts. You can’t just make every fight a title fight if it doesn’t go your way. It just doesn’t seem right, it doesn’t seem like it’s good for long-term value for the titles. That’s a big problem. That’s the bottom line, I think they’re devaluing the belts. Everybody sees it.”
Brown also voiced his displeasure of the announcement of Woodley vs. Till, and believes once Colby Covington is back to 100% health, he’ll still be next in line for another shot at the Welterweight Championship.
“He’s of course upset,” Brown said. “But what are you gonna do? Life goes on. Whatever happens, he’s gonna be he biggest fight after this that they’re gonna want to make. What’s next, they want to do it quickly. But after that, there’s gonna be something else that will be next. I think that he’ll be the guy they’ll want to fight the winner, I’m sure. He’s the guy that I think has earned that spot. I think he’s also drawing a lot of attention. I think it’ll also have the best numbers. I’m sure we’ll see it. But it’s just a shame how they’re going about it.”
“I think the bigger fight would have been Colby,” Brown said. “Let it wait a couple months. “Everybody wants that fight. I think Woodley wants the fight, I think Colby wants the fight. I think a couple months later wouldn’t have hurt anything. It’s really frustrating.”
