Tyron Woodley and his coach Din Thomas want Colby Covington next rather than Leon Edwards.
Woodley and Edwards were set to collide in the UFC London headliner this past weekend. However, the card was postponed because of government restrictions both in the United Kingdom and the United States due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Before it was postponed, the card was set to relocate to the U.S. with Covington offering to step in and face Woodley on short notice. Given the pair’s heated history together, it was a fight many wanted to see, even more so than Woodley vs. Edwards. In the end, it never came to fruition.
While UFC president Dana White has plans on rescheduling all the postponed fights, Thomas revealed how him and Woodley would prefer to face Covington next.
“I mean it’s not really up to Tyron right now, I mean he’s not the champ anymore, so unfortunately he doesn’t any leverage to pick his opponents,” Thomas said in a recent interview (via BJ Penn). “I mean not that he did when he was champ but he’s got even less now. We obviously want Colby. I think that’s the fight more fans want to see but if Dana says it’s Leon [Edwards] then it’s got to be Leon.
“There’s no need to be difficult, Tyron believes in himself, I believe in Tyron, he’s going to win either way. If it has to be Leon then it has to be Leon, but we want Colby.”
Thomas recently departed American Top Team which means he doesn’t have to deal with Covington’s antics anymore. But as far as he is concerned, he only wants the fight because Woodley does — he personally doesn’t care about Covington at all.
“It still doesn’t mean anything to me,” Thomas said. “This is more just me getting my homeboy’s back because I know Tyron has a problem with him and he really wants to fight him. Leon is not a fight that he wanted but Colby is a fight that he wants, so it’s just me supporting my man and what he wants.
“For me it doesn’t matter, I don’t have any ill-will towards Colby, I don’t care about Colby. I don’t think about Colby one second other than when someone asks me about him. I don’t care whether Colby wins, loses, wins, or dies, it doesn’t matter to me.”
Do you want to see Woodley vs. Covington next as well?