We can officially close the chapter on Colby Covington and Tyron Woodley. At least for now.
Once Leon Edwards was forced to pull out of his match-up against the former UFC Welterweight Champion, Colby seemingly stepped up to take on Woodley; however, both men have claimed that neither side wanted to actually fight.
Now, Woodley is set to take on Gilbert Burns on May 23rd, with the former welterweight champion seemingly moved on from the controversial fighter after giving him one last shot at facing him last weekend at UFC 249.
Covington now explains his motives for calling out Woodley and the 32-year-old continues his stance that Woodley was refusing to fight him and names the only other options for his next bout:
“I came out tweeting, saying that I was willing to fight Tyron Woodley on six days’ notice, and I held true to that,” Covington told ESPN. “I was ready to go. I told the UFC (that) I was ready to fight. I thought I was fighting, but they were able to make the fight with (Justin) Gaethje and Tony (Ferguson), so they didn’t need me as the main event. They told me they were going to schedule me for a later date, sometime in June or July fighting Woodley, so I don’t know what happened.
“I know Woodley was refusing to fight me, and I guess he’s looking for an easier fight with some guy named ‘Dilbert.’… He’s gonna move on, so now it only makes sense I want my rematch with ‘Marty Fakenewsman’ or a fight with ‘Street Judas’ Masvidal. I mean, there’s no other two choices to make right now for me than those two fights, and if I don’t get those fights then I’ll just keep waiting, keep training.”
Masvidal and Usman will reportedly clash this summer, though Dana White recently stated that “Gamebred” could be facing someone else interesting instead of the welterweight champion. With both guys seemingly busy at the moment, I guess Covington is just going to keep waiting.