Saturday, September 19th
UFC Fight Night: Covington vs. Woodley
UFC APEX – Las Vegas, Nevada
There is plenty of bad blood as top 5 welterweights and former teammates Colby Covington and Tyron Woodley meet in the main event this weekend. Both men are supremely confident that they will leave with a victory and move themselves closer to another title shot. Who will be able to back up the talk when the octagon door closes?
Colby Covington (15-2) has been a UFC welterweight since 2014, joining as a 5-0 unbeaten prospect. He has now racked up a 10-2 UFC record which includes six unanimous decision wins and a pair of TKO and submission victories – three of his four stoppages coming in the final round of three round fights.
This weekend marks Covington’s first fight of 2020; his last was a TKO loss with only 50 seconds of his title fight with Kamaru Usman remaining in the Fight of the Night (FOTN) at UFC 245. Both of Covington’s losses have been finishes, a submission handing him his first defeat.
The Cardio King 👑@ColbyCovMMA is ready for 5️⃣ rounds on Saturday night. #UFCVegas11 pic.twitter.com/a6LPam9Gfc
— UFC (@ufc) September 16, 2020
“Chaos” had been riding a seven fight win streak prior to his title shot, the most recent of which were five round unanimous decision victories against former champion Robbie Lawler in August last year and former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 225. Now facing yet another former champion, and nearly six years younger than Woodley, Covington finds himself in a battle between two wrestlers and will hope that his cardio and striking from the southpaw stance will be enough to see him get back into the win column.
Tyron Woodley (19-5-1) is the former UFC welterweight champion, having competed in the division since 2013 and making his debut with a 10-1 professional record. Now 9-4-1 in the promotion, he has five KO/TKO wins (four in round one) along with a submission finish.
“The Chosen One” won the welterweight championship in a Performance of the Night (POTN) first round KO victory against Robbie Lawler at UFC 201 before retaining it in a FOTN draw against Stephen Thompson at UFC 205. He then went on to defend it three more times – against Thompson, Demian Maia, and Darren Till – before losing the belt and bringing to an end a seven fight win streak as he was dominated by Kamaru Usman in a unanimous decision defeat at UFC 235.
'The Chosen One' has POWER 😤
💪 @TWooodley looks to return to prime form this Saturday.
[ #UFCVegas11 – LIVE on #ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/oGXTvNQsYY
— UFC (@ufc) September 16, 2020
Woodley is now 38 years old and will feel that he needs a statement victory to give himself the opportunity of another title shot, so he has enlisted the help of Covington’s former training partner and roommate Jorge Masvidal for his training camp. Woodley’s last fight was another unanimous decision loss in which he lost every round, this time to Gilbert Burns in May, which consigned him to the first consecutive defeats of his career.
An orthodox fighter with a wrestling background, Woodley needs to find a way to win the exchanges this weekend; if the fight goes to the ground he is likely to look for ground and pound as opposed to Covington’s submission attempts. The winner finds themselves in a very strong position to be considered the next championship challenger once Usman takes on Burns, even though they may have to face Leon Edwards beforehand to secure the number one contender spot.
Prediction: Covington by decision in a POTN.
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