Former welterweight champion Tyron Woodley reveals he has accepted a fight against Colby Covington after a lopsided loss at UFC on ESPN 9.
For the first time in his MMA career, Woodley suffered back-to-back losses as he was dominated by Gilbert Burns in the headlining bout of UFC Las Vegas last weekend.
“To be honest, I feel crappy that I lost. I didn’t imagine losing to Gilbert Burns,” he said after the unanimous decision loss (via ESPN).
“But at the end of the day, I’m really proud of myself because mentally, I knew what I was going through in the Octagon. He gave me some hard shots, and I just kept saying, ‘I’m not fixing to give up. I’m not feeling that this dude beat me.”
“I’m coming back. I’m gonna win this fight. It wasn’t my night. I don’t understand it, but I just gotta trust God that there’s something bigger and better.”
Down And Out
Now recovering from the damage he sustained from the Gilbert Burns fight, Woodley has accepted the UFC’s offer to fight Covington. ‘The Chosen One’ is confident the welterweight clash will come to light this time after the former welterweight contender turned it down multiple times in the past.
“They offered me that fight, I told them I’m in. I mean, I just don’t want to talk a lot about Colby because Colby is an actor, man. I know what he is doing and it makes sense and it’s kind of fun to watch,” Tyron Woodley told ESPN (transcript from bjpenn.com).
“But, at the end of the day, Colby has turned me down five or six times. After losing two fights back-to-back it may be a time he may accept it because he may think I’m down and out.”
Race War
Continuing, the former welterweight champ shared: “That was the first thing they [UFC] did. They wanted to see if I was alright then they offered me the fight against Colby.”
“I told Malki [Kawa] to make sure you tell them today, yes. Don’t wait until tomorrow, tell them today yes. I got a contusion I have to deal and I can’t fight anyway for 45-60 days because of the cut. I’ve been icing six, seven times a day, ibuprofen, so I’ve been doing the right stuff.”
For Woodley, the fight with Covington is like the ongoing race war in the United States, saying “This brutality and just the unsettling climate of our culture, I’m just going to take it as that.”
“So, they have offered me Colby and I once again have accepted and we will see what happen,” he ended.
(Featured Image Source: Instagram/ Tyron Woodley and Colby Covington)