Colby Covington defeated Tyron Woodley in the highlight of the UFC Fight Night 178. The bout was stopped with 1:19 in the fifth round when Woodley suffered a rib injury.
The former welterweight champion started screaming while trying to make a guillotine on Colby (15-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC), and the referee immediately interfered and stopped the fight. Though, we need to add, that up until that point, Colby was much better than Woodley (19-6-1 MMA, 9-5-1 UFC) and that he performed very confidently, beating up the older colleague pretty badly.
“He was done. He told his coach he was done, and he was looking for a way out,” said Colby, following the fight. “He knew I trapped his arm, and I was getting ready to put a vicious ground-and-pound on him, and he took the easy way out. He would rather be the spineless coward like he is.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A-764_wdyc&ab_channel=RakhatodayOne
Covington was dictating the tempo throughout the whole bout. Woodley and the strength to resist in the opening two rounds, and it was obvious that his stamina and cardio are at a much lower level than Covington’s.
The fourth round saw Woodley on his back throughout the majority of the time, with his rival on top of him inflicting numerous hits. Colby outstruck the former champ, 113-2, in that part of the fight. Once the round ended, Woodley was covered with blood all over his face.
Shortly after the start of the final sequence, the fight came to its end, with Covington yelling all over the octagon about “his” belt. The former interim champion announced his plans in the future, and they include a rematch with Kamaru Usman and a battle against his mentor and former best friend, Jorge Masvidal.
“Where’s Jorge Masvidal at?” Covington said to the reporters. “He needs to come see me for all the talking he’s done. Come see if can walk the walk. I talk the talk, and I walk the walk. I want to see Jorge Masvidal in that octagon.”
Besides this, he had a brief exchange with Kamaru Usman via video link, and called out the current title-holder for another match. The two were trash-talking for a while, but it seems that we won’t see them one against another any time soon.
Dana White stated on several occasions, and he did it last night, too, that Usman needs to face Gilbert Burns first. Durinho outclassed Woodley and Demian Maia recently and looked scary, so White wants to organize a match between him and Usman.
It is more likely that Colby enters the octagon with Masvidal, but Gamebred, too, wants to have another battle with Nate Diaz.
As for Woodley, this was his third straight loss, and in all of them, he had subpar performances. When comparing these matches with the ones he had while holding the title belt, the Chosen One is unrecognizable. Rumors about his retirement are circling throughout the UFC community for a long time. Last night, however, White made them official.
The UFC president stated that he wants to talk with one of his favorite fighters about the retirement plans.
“I think he should start thinking about hanging it up. He’s had a great career. He’s made his money. We all get old, man. This happens to the best of us,” White said at the press.
The 38-year old American first lost his title against Kamaru Usman, then suffered a beating against Burns and now a failure facing Covington. During that time, he didn’t win a single round.
Up next, we have Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa next Saturday night in the middleweight title fight.
Nikola Velickovic is a sports journalist who loves to write and read on all sports. Nikola contributes both news updates and functions as a sports breaking news writer at WagerBop.
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