by After years of building, the rivalry between Tyron Woodley and Colby Covington finally culminated in a UFC Fight Night main event in 2020, which Covington won with a late stoppage.
Covington has made enemies of essentially the entire UFC welterweight division over the course of his 22-fight career. As a former member of American Top Team (ATT), “Chaos” even crossed paths with several former teammates, including Woodley. However, his time at the top of the division is likely over. Covington is just 2-4 in his last six fights following a one-sided stoppage loss to Joaquin Buckley at UFC Tampa. On Wednesday’s “The Ariel Helwani Show,” former UFC welterweight champion Woodley took a not-so-kind trip down memory lane to reflect on his days in the gym with a young Covington.
“I don’t want to spoil his parade, but the parade is kind of over,” Woodley said. “I think he disrespected the division. I think he disrespected other fighters by simply picking his fights. I had defended the belt several times while he had an interim belt, and now he comes and fights me when he thinks it’s me. “Down and out?”
“Colby always came in [the gym] – We always laughed at him. I remember being at Dan Lambert’s house. No nonsense. That was me, Hector Lombard, Robbie Lawler, Thiago Alves, Ben Saunders. It was like a welterweight poker night with Dan Lambert. To be honest, it was a real eye-catcher. We watched the fights and I don’t think Colby was there, but we all laughed at how cool Colby was. He went and told other people that we were all afraid to train with him and that he can’t get a good job here. He talked to these other teams, like Alpha Male or whatever about it.
“Then we all made a bet, like an insider bet,” he continued. “If he lasts a round against one of us who really wants to take him on, we’ll all give him $100,000. That was something ridiculous. That’s the way it is.” [confident we were] at that time.”
Prior to his departure from ATT, Covington was famously closest to his colleague, multiple UFC title challenger Jorge Masvidal. The duo once described themselves as best friends. Woodley wasn’t as close to Covington as Masvidal was, but he said he tried to treat Covington better than most.
Before Woodley became UFC champion, a match against Rory MacDonald in 2014 required the help of one of Covington’s pressing wrestlers in camp. Woodley was always praised for his game planning and this seemed like the perfect solution to MacDonald. However, it didn’t quite work as hoped.
“I brought him to St. Louis, I paid him, I put him up in this nice place,” Woodley said of Covington. “I paid for all of his food. I took him to the shooting range, I gave him chicks. I just did everything. Private boxing lessons, private jiu-jitsu lessons, private strength and conditioning lessons, on top of my pay.” Nobody did that for his training partners, but he ran away throughout training camp. He literally didn’t want to train. They look around like, “Who the hell else would I want to help wrestle but you?” That’s why you’re here.”
“I fought Rory MacDonald. I let him come in because I knew [MacDonald would pressure me] – and he actually did, he put pressure on my ass too, didn’t he? I thought Rory was trying to put pressure on me and push me against the cage, which he did. But Colby came into camp and just ran away from me, and he just did stupid shit. I’m going to strangle him and would have to decide: Should I keep choking and put him to sleep? Am I breaking his arm? And then I think: I won’t be an idiot. Then he will appear as if he had come out. Colby, dude. Stop. It’s a whole movie in itself.”
Ultimately, Covington got the last laugh in his saga with Woodley. The eventual collision was largely a patented move by Covington, as he knocked out Woodley en route to a fifth-round stoppage when Woodley suffered a rib injury. Woodley then fought one more time in the UFC before parting ways.
Covington has since lost three of his last four fights. Although Covington was becoming more brash and outspoken at the time, Woodley came to terms with it in the gym and remembers the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“His act is rubbish. It was funny for a while when we were bored as Jon [Jones] was on a break, Ronda [Rousey] I didn’t fight, Conor [McGregor] was outside,” Woodley said. “We listened to Colby because he just came in. But in reality, I tortured Colby.” He never won a single moment, not even a minute. Not once did he win a moment or an exchange. I think he left early and acted like he hurt his foot in training camp.
“I told Colby the last day that he was training with me and said, ‘Colby, you’re an idiot.’ And I said, “If you act like you’re coming out of an armbar today, or if you don’t submit to a chokehold, or if you get mad that I took you down and have an attitude – and I am af* I’m a two-time All-American Hall of Fame wrestler, like I shouldn’t beat you. If you run for me I will break your arm today I will knock you out You run from me and run off the mat like you have been doing all camp. I’m going to follow you on the carpet and start beating your ass. Do we have that clear? He said, ‘Yes,’ and we fought – and the next day he left.”
Woodley, 42, is expected to return to MMA in April 2025 after recently signing with new team-based MMA promotion Global Fight League.
