SINGAPORE - JUNE 17: Colby Covington reacts after the conclusion of his welterweight bout against Dong Hyun Kim during the UFC Fight Night event at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on June 17, 2017 in Singapore. (Photo by Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Colby Covington isn’t looking past Demian Maia but hopes an impressive victory will garner him a title shot with rival Tyron Woodley. Covington explains the bad blood he has towards the champion.

There are a few things that are crystal clear; Colby Covington has become one of the bigger personalities in the UFC, he is looking to make a huge statement against Demian Maia on Oct. 28 and he just plain does not like Tyron Woodley.

Covington will take on Maia in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 119 which takes place at Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo, Brazil and will air on FS1. “Chaos” has won four consecutive fights including a dominant unanimous decision victory in his most recent performance over, at the time, the no.7 ranked Dong Hyun Kim back in June at UFC Fight Night 111.

The 29-year-old American Top Team-trained Covington is certainly not looking past the always dangerous Maia but he is hoping an impressive performance will set him up for a title shot with welterweight champion and rival, Tyron Woodley. Covington, along with teammate Jorge Masvidal, have become known for their #EasyMoney tour they created on social media. However, if all goes according to plan for Covington, he may have a new hashtag to promote.

“Tyron Woodley; he’s going to be my next opponent,” Covington told FanSided MMA via the SFLC Podcast. “I don’t care what anybody says. After I completely embarrass Demian Maia in his home country and retire him, Tyron Woodley’s next. I’m going to retire him next. People can say whatever they want about my fighting style but I get the job done and I win in very impressive fashion.”

Maia brought an impressive seven-fight winning streak into his long-awaited welterweight title fight with Woodley at UFC 214, which the champ retained the belt via unanimous decision. UFC 214 was one of the most watched pay-per-view events of the year and Covington, naturally, was one of the many who tuned in.

“Yeah, definitely [watched the fight between Woodley and Maia],” Covington said. “I’ll use a lot [from what I learned watching the fight]. I won’t really talk too much about what I saw and was able to pick up on in that fight but I learned a lot in that fight, from both sides.”

Covington stated that he has tremendous respect for Maia and what he has accomplished in the sport. How he views Tyron Woodley is completely different. “Chaos” is not mincing words; the distaste is real.

“It just came from his fakeness,” Covington explained about Woodley. “We trained together at American Top Team a couple of years ago and it’s just his shadiness. As soon as I got to the UFC he acted like he didn’t know me. He tried to act like I was nobody, didn’t give me any respect when I would see him at UFC events. I would say ‘What up?’ to him at events and he would act like he didn’t know me in front of Dana. He’s just fake, man. He’s a shady guy. I don’t trust the guy.

“And then, also, I see his interviews and he’s always playing the victim role,” Covington continued. “C’mon, bro. Just because you’re in boring fights and nobody wants to see you fight anymore and you want money fights, that’s not it. You’re a boring fighter. You’re just not a money fighter. I’m sick of seeing him play the victim and acting like, ‘Oh, everybody’s racist because they think I’m a boring fighter.’ There’s real hate. There’s real bad blood between us and when we get in that Octagon, I swear, this will be the most exciting welterweight title fight you’ve ever seen.”

Recently, Woodley spoke to Sports Illustrated and said that he would welcome the opportunity to move up to middleweight to challenge Georges St-Pierre should he defeat Michael Bisping for the 185-title in the UFC 217 headliner on Nov. 4. The reigning welterweight champion suffered a torn labrum in his successful title defense against Maia and there hasn’t been any word on how much time he will miss. Still, Woodley is interested in a big money fight with St-Pierre, or even Bisping, should he get that chance, which doesn’t surprise Covington.

“I think that’s the easy way out for him,” Covington said of Woodley pondering a move to 185-pounds. “He’s already looking for excuses. After Oct. 28, he’s going to have preventative injuries that he’s going to come up with; ‘Oh, I’m hurt. I can’t fight Colby,’ this and that. He knows what comes from me as an opponent, what I will do to him in the Octagon, and what I have done to him in training. He can say whatever he wants. Deep down inside, he knows what happened when we trained together when I used to whoop his ass at American Top Team.

“Of course he wants to go up to 185 and fight GSP, or an old-ass Michael Bisping who is ready to retire himself. He’s already talking about making his way out of the sport. Of course, he wants the easy fights. He doesn’t want the young, hungry lion on the way up, who he’s already had a taste of getting his ass whooped in the gym again. I think he’s fake. He’s phony and is trying to find a way out of these tough fights already.”

Again, Colby Covington is not looking past Demian Maia and knows he needs to perform impressively in a victory to be put in the title conversation with Woodley. He plans on doing that, and then some, in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Oct. 28 on the biggest night of his professional career.

“It’s very fair to say that I’m going to be cutting a promo on that little b—- [after I beat Demian Maia].”