Only two fights matter to Colby Covington right now.
The former interim welterweight champion is eyeing a return to the octagon, but is adamant that he is only interested in two potential matchups: A welterweight title rematch with Kamaru Usman, or a long-awaited matchup with former champ Tyron Woodley.
Covington (15-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) has gone back-and-forth online with Woodley in a series of exchanges that date back to Woodley’s time as the 170-pound champion. The pair had agreed to meet to save UFC 249, but the booking of Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje meant their matchup never came to fruition for May 9.
Despite his frequent jibes at Woodley (19-4-1 MMA, 9-3-1 UFC), Covington said his number one priority remains a rematch with Usman (16-1 MMA, 11-0 UFC), who stopped him with just 50 seconds remaining of their title fight at UFC 245 in December 2019. Usman has been strongly linked with a title defense against Jorge Masvidal next, but Covington still thinks there’s a chance he can nip in and take the shot, with “Chaos” convinced “Gamebred” will price himself out of the matchup.
“I want my rematch with ‘Marty Fakenewsman,’ there’s no other fight to make,” Covington told MMA Junkie. “We’ve got unfinished business. The way that last fight went down, everybody knows I was winning that fight, that was my fight until Marc Goddard made a stupid decision to stop the fight when the fight wasn’t even close to being over. I still had five, 10 rounds in me. I could go all day, I don’t get tired.”
Woodley was scheduled to face Leon Edwards at UFC on ESPN+ 29 in London before the global COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to the event. Since then, Woodley has diverted his attention to Covington, who said he’s happy to fight him if his rematch with Usman doesn’t materialize.
“If I don’t get that fight then the only other fight that would make sense for me is to end Tyron Woodley’s career,” Covington said. “You see him out there broke as (expletive) begging to fight someone, now he’s over on Cameo but you can’t believe anything Woodley says. He’s like ‘Oh, I’m going to fight three times in three weeks.’ Bro, you’re a broke (expletive), you didn’t even fight three times in four years so I think the UFC knows where I stand.
“I want to make the biggest fights happen for the fans, but I’m going to stand firm. I want my rematch, I deserve my rematch. Everybody knows who won that night and give me a level playing field and a competent ref, and that’s a completely different outcome next time.”
Always in shape, Covington is just waiting for the call. He already proved his ability to step in on relatively short notice when he put an incredible pace on Robbie Lawler last August.
“I’m seriously ready to fight today,” Covington said. “If there was a fight tomorrow against Woodley or Usman, I would step up and I would go fight that fight and I would show the best Colby ‘Chaos’ Covington you’ve seen. I’ve been training so hard, I have the biggest chip on my shoulder since December. I can’t get that bad taste out of my mouth. I’m devastated, I’m heartbroken that I got cheated.”
Colby Covington wants Kamaru Usman rematch, but happy to 'end Tyron Woodley's career' instead
