Tyron Woodley on Colby Covington: “Never in my life have I wanted to hurt somebody so bad”
UFC 225 this past Saturday might have been one the best cards, if not the best of 2018 so far and for good reason. It was a supremely stacked card full of memorable fights, but one fight in particular saw a crowning achievement for one of the UFC’s most despised an most resident villains in the company’s modern day, as Colby “Chaos” Covington became the new UFC interim welterweight champion.
As far as the fans of the UFC are concerned, this is a nightmare from a personality standpoint, but when you look at what Covington displayed Saturday night against Dos Anjos as far as strategy goes, you cannot deny the fact of how prepared he was, rose to the occasion, as well as take advantage of his opportunity and won a world championship.
Could you say his approach to the fight was conservative and non entertaining to casual UFC fans? Yes, but here’s the reality, if you have a skill set you are good at, fan friendly or not, you utilize it to the fullest and get the victory, period. And that’s exactly what Covington did.
That being said, Covington is the UFC interim welterweight champion, like it or not. Now that he’s achieved the pinnacle of his career, time for celebration will be limited as his next challenge could possibly be against the king of the division and undisputed champion, Tyron Woodley.
During his post-fight interview, in his usual outspoken fashion, Covington took the chance to call Woodley out, boldly claiming he’d finish the undisputed champion inside of three rounds. Of course taking exception to this, Woodley unleashed a furious, intense response in regards to how much he really wants to take out the brash, cocky Oregon native. Woodley states he’s never had the urge to want to hurt an opponent like this his entire career, going so far as to say he’ll literally attempt to end Covington’s life.
“Colby Covington is coming to get his ass whooped,” Woodley said. “I ain’t never in my life, I ain’t never in my career, I ain’t never in my existence as an adult human being wanted to f–k somebody up so bad, beat somebody so bad, embarrass somebody so bad, end his career so bad, take his life so bad — and I don’t even say that figuratively. Literally, I’m gonna try to hurt him so f–king bad they’re never gonna want to let me fight in the UFC again, that’s a fact.”
Woodley continued his rant, labeling the new interim champion a poser, then stated the only reason for Covington’s success is due to the heat he’s drawn for himself caused by his controversial remarks.
“Number one, he’s a poser,” Woodley said. “Our sport has been so dead that everybody wants to believe it. They want to believe in the hype because we don’t have nothing else riding right now. Jon Jones is out for a minute, Conor’s out for a minute, Ronda’s getting inducted into the Hall of Fame. As far as stars in the UFC, they’re lacking so we are willing to accept the bulls–t that comes out of this kid’s face. Everything is a complete fraud. He’s finessed himself in a position to fight for a world title. Now you’re gonna get what you asked for. You wanted this smoke, you want to come fight the real welterweight champion, now you’re gonna get your ass beat. I’m not gonna knock you out quick. It’s not gonna be no first round knockout. I’m gonna embarrass you, I’m gonna talk to you the whole f–king fight, I’m gonna tell the referee to get back, do not get in my way, do not stop this, I’ll tell you when it’s time to stop this.”
Seeing as how this feud has developed, it may seem new to you, but in actuality this rivarly has stemmed from their time as sparring partners from their home camp of American Top Team where Covington has claimed that he’d gotten the better of Woodley through out their sessions.
Now with Covington’s change of attitude since rising up the ranks of the 170 pd division along with become the interim champion, Woodley states he’s embarrassed by the antics his ATT counterpart has pulled as of late, an that “Chaos” chances of beating him are slim to none.
“I’m embarrassed that he’s a part of American Top Team,” said Woodley. “I’m embarrassed that he’s a part of our sport. I’m embarrassed that he’s in our division — a mockery to the sport, ain’t never did s–t but all of a sudden we can watch those takedowns. I’ve got the highest takedown defense in the history of our sport — not just the division, the history, since this f–king sport started. This kid has never taken me down in his life. He’s never won a millisecond of any round ever, ever, on anything [while training]. He’s a warm up round. He’s the person I shadowbox with before I get the real work in and he will always be that to me.
“You’re never taking me down. You never took me down in the training room. You ran from me every time we trained. Your ass went home early like a coward — ‘Oh my ankle hurts!’ We were wrestling and you wouldn’t even wrestle me! These are facts.”
Though this fight hasn’t officially been made yet in terms of date or location, but you can bet, once the fight is booked, it’ll be one of the more anticipated UFC welterweight unification title bouts in UFC history.
