Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Kamaru Usman gives his take on the upcoming welterweight bout between Colby Covington and Tyron Woodley.
Kamaru Usman has an interesting take on the upcoming welterweight bout between Colby Covington and Tyron Woodley at UFC Vegas 11.
The reining welterweight champion holds wins over both men but will be rooting for Woodley to pull off the victory on Sept. 19.
Usman believes Covington could be ‘the best and possibly the worst’ thing to happen to Woodley and says the former welterweight champ needs to find a way to neutralise ‘Chaos’s’ offense.
“I think that this is the best and possibly the worst case scenario for Tyron Woodley,” Usman said during the UFC Vegas 9 post-fight show (h/t Damon Martin of MMA Fighting). “As far as style matchups, I think this is probably one of the worst stylistic matchups for him after coming off back-to-back fights with guys that love kind of pressure him. Guys that can grapple as well and guys that kind of throw some volume.”
On the flipside, Woodley is somewhat of an expert when it comes to southpaw fighters and ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ believes ‘T-Wood’ could eventually find a home for that vaunted overhand right.
“On the flipside, this is a tremendous matchup for Tyron Woodley because Tyron Woodley is a specialist when it comes to dealing with southpaws,” Usman said. “He knows how to angle off, to kind of guide them into that big right hand that he has. Of course, the one thing that I feel like I’m being pulled in again is Tyron is giving me this ‘I’m back, I’m back, I’m back.’ So I’m starting to drink the Kool-Aid again. Maybe the Tyron Woodley of old is back.”
“I’m intrigued by this matchup,” he added. “I can’t wait to see it happen. Two guys that I’m familiar with and I’ll be watching closely.”
UFC Vegas 11: Covington vs. Woodley will take place later this month, September 19 at the UFC APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.