By Daniel Vreeland

It doesn’t take a long conversation with the UFC’s No. 3-ranked welterweight, Colby Covington, to find out how he really feels about any topic.

The self-proclaimed "bad guy" of the welterweight division has been all over the media since beating Demian Maia and then speaking his mind during his post-fight interview at UFC Fight Night 119 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in October.

But his divisive takes don’t stop with lobbing insults at Maia’s home country.





In his recent interview with the Top Turtle MMA Podcast on FloCombat, Covington opened up about his past with UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, explaining just what is holding up a fight between the two. And from the horse’s mouth, it isn’t because the fight was never on the table.

“They offered me and Tyron a fight on December 30 at UFC 219. (UFC President) Dana White offered him that fight,” Covington said.

While the fight at UFC 219 was originally rumored to be between Nate Diaz and Woodley, Covington said he was, in fact, the backup plan when that fell through.

“[Dana] said, ‘Hey, Nate Diaz ain’t gonna happen. Fight Colby.’ [Tyron] said, ‘No, I’m not fighting Colby,” Covington claimed of his former training partner.

And it’s that connection as a former partner Covington thinks is holding Woodley up. In addition to knowing that facing off with him is dangerous, Covington also believes Woodley is using it as a negotiation tactic.

“He can say whatever he wants to say on the surface. He can say ‘Colby’s not a competitive fight,' ‘[Colby] has pillow hands,'” Covington said.

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In addition, he thinks Woodley is using his Maia fight as evidence, which Covington points out is hypocritical.

“All the things he was saying after I beat Demian Maia, saying, ‘You got out-struck by a [Brazilian jiu-jitsu] guy,” Colby began. “This is the same BJJ guy that backed him up for five rounds straight, and he was in one of the most boring title fights of all time.”

To top things off, Covington claimed that Woodley’s supposed shoulder injury was completely fabricated.

“[Tyron is] trying to make up all of these excuses," Covington said. "‘Oh, my shoulder is hurt now’... Tyron Woodley is a joke. He’s making up all of this stuff.”

Covington goes further to say that Woodley was not just avoiding a match with him at UFC 219 but is also now ducking him as a potential coach on "The Ultimate Fighter." While Covington is not ready to give up hope on this fight yet, he is hoping the UFC sees him as a more meaningful contender than either of this Saturday's headliners at UFC on Fox 26 in Winnipeg, Canada.

“Nobody wants to see RDA [Rafael dos Anjos] and [Robbie] Lawler anymore," Covington said. "Those guys are at the end of their careers.”

While it appears that Lawler or dos Anjos may be favored by Woodley as his next opponent, it may only be a matter of time before the Covington fight becomes unavoidable.