Tyron Woodley explains why he’s a bad matchup for “Walking Dead” Colby Covington

UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley believes he’s a nightmare matchup for new interim welterweight champion Colby Covington. The champ explained why he feels this way on a recent episode of the UFC Unfiltered podcast, using some of his previous victories as examples.

“If [a fighter’s] number one attribute is cardio, they’re up shit creek because cardio is a controllable variable,” Woodley said of Covington’s impeccable cardio (transcribed by Jeff Cain for MMAWeekly.com). “You can’t control that I’m a better wrestler; I’m stronger than you. You can’t control that I punch a shit-load harder than you. You can’t vouch for those things in a six-week training camp. In one year, you can’t change your punching power to be measurable to mine,”

“I’ve said this before, put your chin on the treadmill,” Woodley continued. “Show me how you can condition your chin to take a punch.”

“Fighters that press me like that have been the ones that get knocked out. [Josh] Koscheck was one and got knocked out. Robbie [Lawler] is a pressure fighter. He got knocked out. I’ve fought a guy like him before. These are people I call The Walking Dead. They know they have to get a takedown.”

Woodley also reminded that he is the owner of some of the best takedown defense in UFC history, statistically speaking, which could certainly make him a troublesome matchup for the takedown specialist Covington.

“It’s not like I just have the best takedown defense in the welterweight division,” he said. “I have the best takedown defense in the history of the UFC. It’s kind of funny that his whole game plan is surrounded around taking me down.”

Who do you think will come up on top when the cage door inevitably closes on Tyron Woodley and Colby Covington?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 6/21/2018.