Dana White says Colby Covington signed to fight Tyron Woodley: “We’re just waiting on Woodley”
It seems like a fight between former welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and former title challenger Colby Covington is getting closer to becoming a reality. This week, Covington posted a signed bout agreement to face Woodley but said that the former champion won’t sign on to fight him. As the two continue to go back-and-forth on a possible fight, UFC President Dana White cleared up the most recent happenings of a fight.
During Friday’s media scrum White confirmed that Covington has signed on and that the holdup is waiting for Woodley to sign on the dotted line.
.@DanaWhite clears up a few #UFC welterweight rumors:
"Gilbert Burns is next [for Kamaru Usman]… Colby Covington signed deal [to fight Tyron Woodley]."
Watch full #UFCFightIsland2 media scrum: https://t.co/ntmz1kLJBQ pic.twitter.com/kRO2ASTOUw
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) July 17, 2020
“Woodley has been talking about fighting Colby Covington since Colby fought [Kamaru] Usman. It is true that Colby signed the deal and he’s ready to go, we’re just waiting on Woodley.”
There has been a long war of words between both fighters as they’ve separately campaigned to make this fight happen over the last couple of years. White told the media on Friday that he’s always looking to make the fights that the fans want to see and are most exciting, but the stories behind the scenes are usually far different than what is being said in public.
“Listen I always tell you guys, I’m always trying to make the fights that should be made or people want to see. People can say what they want publicly but behind the scenes it’s another story. I can’t speak honestly about what’s going on and involved in that [Woodley vs Covington] but we’re trying to make Woodley vs Covington, and Covington is definitely in.”
At this point it seems the only hold up is the date for a fight between Woodley and Covington. The signed bout agreement that Covington shared had a scheduled date for August, but in response to his rival, Woodley said he’d be willing to take the fight in September. Following his loss to Gilbert Burns last month, Woodley said he had already signed a deal to face Covington but a date was not given.
With all of his focus on Fight Island at this time, Dana White doesn’t have a set date as to when he’d like to see the two fight but it does appear that the UFC is working hard to make the fight happen.
