Morning Report: Colby Covington explains why he won’t fight Tyron Woodley in September

Yesterday, the MMA world was sent into a tizzy when reports began flying that interim welterweight champion Colby Covington was unable to fight by September when the UFC was targeting a title unification bout with the undisputed champ, Tyron woodley. As a result, the UFC was considering stripping Covington and having Woodley defend his belt against Darren Tillinstead, something Till confirmed he has been approached about. But while Till claims the reports are true, Covington says, in the words of his favorite politician, that the reports are “fake news.”

Speaking with Submission Radio, Covington said that though his fight with Woodley didn’t have a set date yet, the were looking at fighting later in the year as he needed to recover from some injuries.

“We’re looking at doing it in November, December,” Covington said. “You know, I need a little time off, I need to do a little recovering. I’m only human, man, I gotta get a little vacation. I just can’t keep running my body through the ground, going through training camps. You have to be strategic, and you know, November, December works for me. I had little health issues after my fight, so I’m getting those taken care of and by the year’s end I will unify my belt and retire Tyron Woodley for good.”

Covington has risen to MMA prominence in the last year as a result of his brash and controversial personality. In a welterweight division suddenly full of young contenders, Covington managed to get his way to a title shot by talking enough trash to stand out among the crowd. He won his interim title with a unanimous decision over Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 225 but even before then, Covington had been calling out “Tyquil” Woodley for months, saying he was going to “Make the welterweight division great again,” and now he doesn’t see how the UFC would book any other fight.

“I think the storyline that makes the most sense, this is the biggest fight that the UFC’s gonna make this year,” Covington said. “There’s still questions regarding when Conor’s coming back, who knows when he’s coming back. They don’t know when DC’s gonna fight again because he’s got a broken hand. So, this is the biggest fight that UFC can serve. So, if you wanna serve the biggest fight between Colby Chaos Covington and TyQuil Woodley, they need to serve it up at the world’s most iconic arena, and that’s Madison Square Garden in Manhattan New York. So, that makes the most sense for the fight.”

Covington has a point. Though the numbers have yet to show that the public is interested in watching him fight, Covington does seem to have at least struck a nerve with Woodley, who has never seem particularly enthused about any of his title defense opponents so far. “The Chosen One” has been vocal about his contempt for Covington, saying he was literally going to try and kill him when they do square off. Heat like that can certainly draw attention to a fight and get fans to tune in. And, Covington says, it shows that his mental warfare tactics are already working to his advantage.

“He’s triggered,” Covington said. “He knows that I’m the money fight now and now he’s begging to fight me. He’s using his social media platform and he can’t stop talking about me. Every media article that comes out, he just had an opinion about that and he’s saying a lot of fake news. He’s saying he’s gonna end my life. Okay, his last two fights he’s thrown the least strikes thrown in a title fight in UFC history. So, the only history that his name’s gonna be on is for the worst fights of all time. The history that I’m gonna make is me making the whole sport great again and going down as one of the most entertaining fighters of all time.

“He’s begging for the fight now. I’m the money fight. Everyone wants to see me vs. TyQuil and everybody knows that I’m gonna destroy TyQuil. He’s a race-baiter, he complains too much, he’s not what a UFC champion should be. So that’s why I’m here to make the UFC welterweight division great again, and by year’s end you’re never gonna hear another word from TyQuil.”

You can check out the full interview below.