The highly-anticipated matchup between Tyron Woodley and Colby Covington could be on the horizon.
According to “T-Wood” himself, the fight is very close to being finalized. The ex-welterweight champ told Mike Swick on his podcast that the fight is almost set, the only hold up seems to be nailing down a date, which will most likely be in September or October.
“Looks like I’m going to be fighting Colby Covington,” Woodley said. “The date, we’re waiting on right now. I’m pretty confident it’s going to be a main event. Main event ESPN+ me versus Colby. We’re getting real close on a date. September/October. It’s going down for sure.”
A report from MMA Fighting adds that a representative from Covington’s team noted the fight isn’t finalized, but it’s the matchup everyone wants to see. The former American Top Team training partners have built up quite the personal rivalry over the past few years. Several attempts to book the fight during the peak of the pair’s rivalry fell through. However, it seems now fight fans might actually get to see it.
Speaking more on the potential matchup, Woodley noted that this could quite possibly be the most important fight of his career.
“This is a big fight for me,” Woodley said. “This is probably the biggest fight of my career to be honest. Because the situation, it’s bragging rights. He’s talked all this sh*t, but in my mind, he really knows what time it is but now because he has talked that much sh*t, he’s got to try to live up to it. He’s got to try to beat me.
“He’s been calling me out for three or four years damn near. So now it’s to the point where it’s personal and the other fights didn’t really mean as much. I feel like [Kamaru] Usman and Gilbert are kind of goofy and I really didn’t feel no animosity towards them. But I feel that with Colby. Some of the other guys I felt the urgency because of how good they were, Carlos Condit and Robbie Lawler, those guys are the OG’s.
“The Natural Born Killer,” “Ruthless,” “Gorilla” [Darren Till], all these monstrous fighters that I got to bring it to them cause they sure as f**k going to bring it to me. I think Colby’s going to bring me that, the first time I get the opponent at the press conference, we probably just going to break the internet to be honest.”
Woodley is coming off back-to-back losses to Kamaru Usman, who dethroned him of the 170-pound title, and Gilbert Burns. Meanwhile, Covington also comes off a loss to Kamaru Usman, who he fought for five rounds in a tremendous back-and-forth contest, before being finished late in the final round. However, Woodley doesn’t think Usman did enough to truly silence the always outspoken Covington.
“There’s enough people that want me to hurt him so bad that if I do it, now I’m a hero,” Woodley said. “We’re not even talking about losing two fights in a row. We’re talking about the kid that finally took care of Colby Covington. Usman really didn’t take care of him. He won but had he not dropped him twice, Usman probably would have lost that fight.”
As far as the buildup for the potential fight goes, Woodley is fully prepared for the verbal warfare that comes with facing Covington inside the Octagon.
“He’s gonna try to use everything in mental warfare,” Woodley said. “He’s going to try to be racist, he’s going to try to talk about stuff from my personal life, he’s gonna bluff and make up sh*t about the gym. He’s going to ask all these daggone questions cause he was in St. Louis with me so anything he can turn into something he’s going to do that. Guess what? I’m going to match him and make him look stupid.”
