Tyron Woodley Wants to Face Colby Covington in June After Beating Usman at UFC 235

Fear not Colby Covington, Tyron Woodley still has you on his to-do list.

While Kamaru Usman has leapfrogged Covington on the list of welterweight contenders and will face Woodley for 170-pound gold at UFC 235, the reigning champion is planning an active first half of 2019 that includes a bout against his former American Top Team stablemate.

“I just recognized that at some point I’m gonna fight all these guys,” Woodley told TMZ Sports recently. “Obviously the world would like to see me f—k Colby up right quick but I think he’s trying to call shots and he’s not a champ so he can’t really do that. So I’m gonna go out there and fight Kamaru Usman and we’ll see what happens after that. Most likely I‘ll end up fighting Colby next up.”

Covington appeared to be next in line to face Woodley after claiming the interim welterweight belt with a win over Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 225 in June. However, “Chaos” was stripped of the title when he wasn’t medically cleared to fight Woodley at UFC 228, and he has since been surpassed by Usman as the division’s No. 1 contender. Covington and Woodley have traded plenty of verbal jabs in recent months, building some hype for a potential clash between the two rivals. Covington on Monday said he’d only accept a title fight in the UFC, and if all goes as planned for Woodley, he might not have to wait too long.

Woodley will square off against Usman in the UFC 235 co-main event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and he plans to make a quick turnaround to face Covington some three months later, when the promotion typically holds its annual event in Chicago.

“Yeah, I’ll fight Colby next after that,” Woodley said. “Probably in June. I think they’ve got a fight in Chicago in June. I’m a midwest guy. I train in Milwaukee which is an hour and a half from Chicago, St. Louis is not that far, and I think I’ve got strong roots there as well so it would be a good fight to headline on that card.”