Colby Covington and Tyron Woodley will finally get to settle their differences.
Covington (15-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) and Woodley (19-5-1 MMA, 9-4-1 UFC) have verbally agreed to square off. Both men have said publicly on social media that the date is set for Sept. 19, although the UFC has yet to make an official announcement.
It’s unclear if the fight will be a five-round main event or part of UFC 253, which was expected to take place Sept. 19. UFC president Dana White recently has indicated that the pay-per-view, headlined by middleweight champ Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa, could be pushed back one week.
Covington and Woodley were briefly linked to headline the UFC’s Aug. 22 event, but Woodley requested more time. In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Covington said he was willing to wait. Now, in less than a month, the fight that’s been years in the making will finally happen.
The fight between the former American Top Team teammates has been brewing since 2017 when Woodley was the welterweight champion, but it never materialized. Covington won the interim welterweight title in June 2018, but nasal surgery prevented him from unifying the titles with Woodley.
The UFC decided to book Woodley vs. Darren Till instead, and Covington, who visited Donald Trump at the White House as interim champ, was eventually stripped of his title. After Woodley successfully defended his title against Till, Kamaru Usman was awarded the next shot over Covington, and Usman dethroned Woodley in March 2019.
Covington faced Robbie Lawler in the UFC on ESPN 5 main event last August, dominating the former UFC welterweight champion in a unanimous decision win. That led to a title shot against newly-crowned champ Usman last December, but Covington was stopped late in the fifth round at UFC 245 in a barn burner.
After losing the title to Usman, Woodley would drop his second straight to Gilbert Burns in May, suffering the first losing skid of his career. Finally, the two budding rivals will meet in one of the most highly anticipated matchups of the year.
