Midnight Mania: Woodley Reveals Story Of Running Covington Out Of ATT

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It’s been so many years now since the Colby Covington vs. Tyron Woodley feud that it’s easy to forget the origins their…


UFC Fight Night: Covington v Woodley

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It’s been so many years now since the Colby Covington vs. Tyron Woodley feud that it’s easy to forget the origins their bad blood. Before they ever met in the Octagon, before Covington was even an interim champion, the two were training partners at the famed American Top Team (ATT) gym in Coconut Creek, Florida.

Covington’s time at ATT ended poorly. Despite being a top-ranked contender, “Chaos” spent too much time trashing his fellow team mates (like Dustin Poirier) and was eventually booted off the team. At least, that’s the official story, but “T-Wood” revealed in a recent interview with Ariel Helwani that Covington’s exodus began when he couldn’t keep up with him in training.

“I tell Colby the last day that he trained with me,” Woodley explained. “I said, ‘Colby you a d—k.’ And I said today, if you act like you’d get out of armbar or if you don’t submit to a choke or if you get mad that I took you down and have an attitude — and I’m a f—king two-time All-American Hall of Fame wrestler like I’m not supposed to take you down — if you run from me, I’m going to break your f—king arm today. I’m gonna choke you out. I’m gonna knock you out. If you run from me and you run off the mat like you’ve been doing the whole camp, I’m gonna follow you on the carpet, and I’m gonna commence to beating your ass. We got that clear? He said yeah, we sparred, and he left the next day.”

Covington relocated to MMA Masters and eventually did meet Woodley in the Octagon after the champion lost his belt. When the two fought in 2020, Covington won every round and ended the fight in the fifth. More recently, Woodley was one of the fighters revealed to be on the Global Fight League (GFL) roster. His GFL debut will be his first cage fight since March 2021 and will likely take place sometime next year.

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Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.