Tyron Woodley vs. Colby Covington set for September 19
The long-awaited welterweight grudge match between Tyron Woodley and Colby Covington now has a date set for it.
Woodley announced on his Instagram on Monday that he is in training camp for a fight against Covington on September 19. The UFC has not officially confirmed the bout yet, but this fight between the two long-time rivals has been rumored for a few months now. The UFC was just looking for the right date for these two to finally settle their score, and it’s September 19.
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UFC 253, featuring a main event between UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa, is set for September 19, so based on that this fight between Woodley and Covington figures to be the co-main event. That’s a big spot for both men in their march back towards the UFC welterweight title, but at the same time, this seems like it would be better suited as a five-round fight on its own card.
It’s worth noting that according to Ariel Helwani, there is talk of potentially shifting UFC 253 back a week, so perhaps this could be a five-round main event after all. After all, a fight of this magnitude deserves to headline its own card. Helwani also notes that this fight between Woodley and Covington is agreed to for September 19 but not signed yet.
Woodley (19-5-1) is the former UFC welterweight champion. After defeating Darren Till by submission in 2018, Woodley has fallen on hard times as he’s dropped back-to-back losses to Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns. However, he is still the No. 5 ranked welterweight in the UFC, and win here over Covington would catapult Woodley back towards title contention. A loss, however, and he could be staring at the dreaded three-fight losing skid.
Covington (15-2) is the former interim UFC welterweight champion. The current No. 2 ranked welterweight is coming off of a TKO loss to Usman in a championship fight last year, but he was highly competitive with Usman and proved he’s an elite welterweight by nearly going the distance and stealing a decision from the champion. A win here over Woodley and Covington could very well be next in line to fight Usman once again.
The betting odds for this fight were previously announced, with Covington listed as a -250 betting favorite and Woodley available as a +210 underdog. The line has since shifted even more in Covington’s favor as he’s now -275 with Woodley at +235. Expect those odds to fluctuate quite a bit as we get closer to this long-awaited grudge match.
Who do you think wins, Tyron Woodley or Colby Covington?
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Tyron Woodley UFC
