Ahead of their fight at UFC Vegas 11, it is important to address the dispute between the renowned Welterweights Colby Covington and Tyron Woodley.
Colby Covington and Tyron Woodley are finally set to square off in the Octagon on September 19. The two will headline UFC Vegas 11, and the battle between them would be professional as well as personal. Both the fighters have known each other for very long, and were training partners at American Top Team. They did not got along from the start, and now share a relation full of animosity and resentment.
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Why is There a Bad Blood Between Colby Covington and Tyron Woodley?
In 2014, at the time of UFC 174, Colby Covington was one of the designated training partners of Tyron Woodley, who at the event was set to go up against Rory Macdonald. Covington was 26 back then, and was relatively new to UFC. He hoped the session would be mutually beneficial, but was taken aback by Woodley’s attitude, who according to him only wanted to showcase his authority by making him the subject. As per Covington, this compelled the competitive nature of him to get in the way.
“The experience was very fake. I could tell that the first day after training. He wasn’t bringing me in as a teammate or this and that, he was trying to tee off on me. He was trying to look good and build his confidence off of me. I wasn’t going to let that happen. I’m not here to be a sparring partner. I’m here to win my own world title and to be the best fighter in the world.”
However, according to Din Thomas, Tyron Woodley’s coach, Covington was not a team player, never followed any instructions and only saw his own interest. “He wanted to be off on his own, doing his own thing and even in the gym, he would peel off and start lifting weights or whatever on his own when he felt like it. He didn’t give off that vibe that he wanted to be part of the team.”
Irrespective of whoever’s fault, whatever happened in the training camp sowed seeds of a long term dispute.
Verbal Shots
In the last half a decade and considerably in the last three years, both the individuals have fired several verbal shots at each other. Some nasty things have been said from both ends. For instance, Tyron Woodley has claimed Colby Covington is selfish, who has burned many bridges for his benefit, and also believes he is a racist. Colby on the other hand has also never resisted in targeting Woodley, and at number of times took jibe at the Chosen one.
All this is expected to add up, and in cumulation might bring out a spectacle from the fighters at UFC Vegas 11.
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