Pic: Woodley Shares X-Ray Of Rib Injury From Covington Loss

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

“It was the most pain, ever.”

What the hell happened at the end of the fight between Tyron Woodley and Colby Covington at UFC Vegas 11?

That was the question everyone was left asking after Woodley went for a guillotine choke early in the fifth round, only to scream out in pain about his rib. The ref stepped in and waved things off, and Covington walked away with a dominating win and 5th round TKO (injury) victory on his record (watch the highlights here).

Woodley was stretchered out to the hospital, and now he’s sharing what looks to our untrained eyes like a pretty serious rib injury. Take a look:

So medically speaking, the rib probably should not have that spot where, like, one bit is all up higher off the next bit and all. My experience with ribs — those outside of BBQ houses, anyway — has ribs in one piece, preferably without a big ol’ crack or separation like we see in the above image.

We’ll wait for some expert opinions on what we’re looking at here, rather than speculate further on what Woodley means about it ‘popping’ repeatedly during the fight. It certainly doesn’t explain Tyron’s lackadaisical performance early on in the Covington fight, or in his previous few outings for that matter.

“The thing is with Woodley is it doesn’t seem like his head is in the game,” UFC president Dana White said at the UFC Vegas 11 post fight press conference. “He’s focused on everything but. I dunno. Always, for a long time.”

We’ll see if this x-ray changes White’s mind about Woodley’s commitment to his craft. We have our doubts, though.