Covington: UFC gave Woodley Burns over me because they fear he might be ‘washed up’

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Colby Covington explains why the UFC wanted Tyron Woodley to face Gilbert Burns.

The UFC booked a headlining welterweight bout between Tyron Woodley and Gilbert Burns at UFC on ESPN 9 because they feared ‘T-Wood’ might be ‘washed up’, according to Colby Covington.

Speaking to MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck in a recent interview, Covington claims ‘Dilbert Burns’ is the perfect opponent to gauge whether or not Woodley has ‘anything left in the tank’ following his lopsided title defeat to Kamaru Usman at UFC 235.

“You know, to be honest Mike the real reason they didn’t get this fight is because the UFC didn’t want to give him the fight,” Covington said. “The thing is, his last fight he looked so washed up Mike, the UFC wants to see if he has anything left in the tank, so they want to see if he can prove himself to earn the losing ass-whooping paycheck to me. This is a test by the UFC — they’re making him fight some kid named Dilbert, nobody even knows who Dilbert is. So we’ll see if he passes that test and he can earn this ass-whooping paycheck losing paycheck to me but, you know, who knows man.”

“It just sucks, you know, but he never wanted to fight me. I’m the first guy to ever scare the champion into elective surgery, Elective surgery, Mike. The guy was ready to fight Nate Diaz, some lightweight scrub wash-up. We know he’s the Stockton soy boy, he was ready to fight him but he wouldn’t fight Colby Chaos Covington when I had the real welterweight championship, the people’s championship. America’s championship. More importantly, Donald Trumps favorite fighter.”

Covington, 32, hasn’t fought since his fifth-round TKO loss to ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ at UFC 245.

UFC on ESPN 9: Woodley vs. Burns takes place on May 30 at the UFC APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.