Colby Covington asserts that his unification title fight against Tyron Woodley will go on as planned, as he sees it happening later in the year.
On Wednesday, UFC welterweight top contender Darren Till revealed that interim champion Colby Covington is “out” and that he would be facing undisputed champion Tyron Woodley next. While he did not delve into specifics, “The Gorilla” simply stated that the fight was “offered” to him.
Covington immediately clarified this piece of news in a recent guesting on Submission Radio. According to Covington, he does need some time to recuperate from some health issues, but asserts that the unification fight against Woodley is still set to happen some time during the tail end of the year.
“We’re looking at doing it in November, December. You know, I need a little time off, I need to do a little recovering,” Covington said. “I’m only human, man, I gotta get a little vacation. I just can’t keep running my body through the ground, going through training camps. You have to be strategic, and you know, November, December works for me. I had little health issues after my fight, so I’m getting those taken care of and by the year’s end I will unify my belt and retire Tyron Woodley for good.”
“I think the storyline that makes the most sense, this is the biggest fight that the UFC’s gonna make this year,” he continued. “There’s still questions regarding when Conor McGregor’s coming back, who knows when he’s coming back. They don’t know when Daniel Cormier is gonna fight again because he’s got a broken hand. So, this is the biggest fight that UFC can serve.”
“So, if you wanna serve the biggest fight between Colby ‘Chaos’ Covington and TyQuil Woodley, they need to serve it up at the world’s most iconic arena, and that’s Madison Square Garden in Manhattan New York. So, that makes the most sense for the fight.”
Covington has been itching for a fight against Woodley even before he was named the interim champion. But if these plans fail to bear fruit for whatever reason, he actually has a plan B in mind.
“If Tyron Woodley gets cold feet, which I think he will, deep down inside he knows what I used to do to him, he knows I took his soul at American Top Team,” Covington said. “So, if he gets cold feet and he backs out, then I guess the perfect storyline that make sense for the pay-per-view is I guess Toronto against that little syrup sucker Georges St-Pierre.”
“He’s been seeing aliens, he’s been doing all kinds of things. Who knows what’s going on in that guy’s head. But he has expressed interest in wanting another fight, so if TyQuil can’t come together and get his grip together to sign a contract, then I guess I’m going after GSP in Canada and I’m gonna go north of the border and I’m gonna be going and getting some poontang over there. He’s getting poutine, I’m getting poontang.”
Woodley’s return has yet to be made final, as he continues the rehabilitation process for his shoulder that he had surgery on last December.