Mike Brown: UFC is ‘Devaluing’ Interim Belts With Latest Welterweight Title Fight Announcement

Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight contender and renowned trash talker Colby Covington defeated Rafael dos Anjos last month to claim the interim welterweight belt and a presumptive shot at current champion Tyrone Woodley to unify the belts later in the year.

Fast-forward to July and the UFC has announced that Woodley will defend his belt at UFC 228 on Sept. 8 against Liverpool’s Darren Till, as Covington is unable to fight on that date due to his recent sinus surgery according to an ESPN report. The decision, apparently motivated by Woodley's year-long layoff and the promotion's desire to have him defend his title as soon as possible, frustrated Covington’s American Top Team coach Mike Thomas Brown, who told MMA Fighting on Wednesday at the UFC on Fox 30 open workouts that he’s frustrated by the decision.

“I’m pretty bummed about it,” Brown said. “I just feel like its devaluing the belts. You can’t just make every fight a title fight if it doesn’t go your way. It just doesn’t seem right, it doesn’t seem like it’s good for long-term value for the titles. That’s a big problem. That’s the bottom line, I think they’re devaluing the belts. Everybody sees it.”

Brown admitted Covington wasn’t happy with the announcement either and believes when his fighter is healthy again he’ll be next in line for the welterweight title shot.

“He’s of course upset,” Brown said. “But what are you gonna do? Life goes on. Whatever happens, he’s gonna be the biggest fight after this that they’re gonna want to make. What’s next, they want to do it quickly. But after that, there’s gonna be something else that will be next. I think that he’ll be the guy they’ll want to fight the winner, I’m sure. He’s the guy that I think has earned that spot. I think he’s also drawing a lot of attention. I think it’ll also have the best numbers. I’m sure we’ll see it. But it’s just a shame how they’re going about it.”

“I think the bigger fight would have been Colby,” Brown said. “Let it wait a couple months. “Everybody wants that fight. I think Woodley wants the fight, I think Colby wants the fight. I think a couple months later wouldn’t have hurt anything. It’s really frustrating.”