Tyron Woodley was one of the first fighters to feel the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Initially scheduled to square off against Leon Edwards in the UFC Fight Night 171 headliner in London on March 21, Woodley’s bout was postponed as the disease began to take effect all over the world. At one point, the former welterweight champion was reportedly in talks for a grudge match with former American Top Team stablemate Colby Covington, but nothing would come of it.
With the UFC’s next event now slated for May 9, Woodley is still without an opponent. And while Dana White revealed what is expected to be the full lineup for that card, Woodley is hopeful that me might get a chance to compete at the event. If not then, the sooner the better.
“I want to fight sooner than later. One, because I think it’s a chance that a fight can go down May 9. And then they might have in their mind, OK May 9 we’re gonna do a card, May 16 we’re gonna do a card and then they’re gonna do a fight each weekend,”Woodley told TMZ Sports on “The Hollywood Beatdown.”
“At any point the government can come down and smackdown and say no, stop…I feel like fighting May 9 makes the most sense. I’ve been holding on to this conditioning, this training, dieting, my weight — I’ve been holding it for four months. So I want to whip some ass…I think this is gonna become my new normal…so I’ll keep this conditioning up, so it would be dope to have this hard work pay off.”
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Woodley has not fought since relinquishing the 170-pound belt in a loss to Kamaru Usman at UFC 235 in March 2019. “The Chosen One” captured welterweight gold with a first-round knockout of Robbie Lawler in July 2016, and after retaining the title in a majority draw against Stephen Thompson at UFC 205, successfully defended the belt against Thompson, Demian Maia and Darren Till.
It’s a resume that he believes should have earned him an immediate rematch against the champion, although that was never a serious consideration.
“But in reality, I should have been fighting Usman,” he said. “There’s no way you can be a world title holder for three years, have four title defenses, have one bad night and not get an immediate rematch. I feel like what I did in the sport should have warranted that. Even if it wasn’t a good performance. I don’t even remember the fight, to be honest.”
In the UFC landscape, there seems to be more interest a Woodley-Covington matchup. Woodley was supposed to face Covington, then the interim champion, at UFC 228, but “Chaos” was unable to compete at the event after undergoing surgery to correct a nasal issue. Covington was stripped of the interim belt, and Woodley made short work of Darren Till instead. Since then, Woodley and Covington have circled each other in the media, but nothing concrete has ever come to fruition.
Woodley still has his doubts that Covington will ever be willing to face him.
“The classic theme and the common denominator is Colby is never going to be ready to fight me,” Woodley said. “There’s reasons why he’s asking the UFC for $2 to $5 million to fight me and he’s never been paid that collectively in his entire career. But to fight me, he needs to be paid so much more because he knows he’s going to lose.”
Rather than concerning himself with a specific opponent, Woodley would rather just have an active conclusion to 2020. Woodley fought just once in 2018 and 2019.
“I don’t care at this point. I’m seeking performances. I want to go out and put three or four crazy performances this year where people are like, “What the f–k did he do to Tyron.” …I’m willing to fight anybody at this point.”
Woodley thinks the coronavirus-mandated delay in the UFC’s scheduled has created an interesting opportunity for both the promotion and its athletes in the coming weeks and months. Woodley’s presence would only serve to raise the profile of a card that is shaping up to be one of the UFC’s deepest in years.
“I talked to my manager… we were pushing to get on that [May 9] card,” Woodley said. “It’s a lot of power on that card, to be honest. I don’t know if they’re trying to divvy out the star power.
“In my opinion, I would bust mother—ers upside the head with the biggest, craziest card ever because everybody’s sitting around. Some people may fight a couple times a month … We only have so many stars. I think this is the opportunity for stars to be more active and the opportunity for emerging stars to bust out.”
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