‘Chaos’ is back. Colby Covington fought and defeated Tyron Woodley in the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. This was a proper grudge match as both men hate each other. Apart from their political standpoints, there were a couple of individual narratives that made this match interesting.
Firstly, Woodley came into this fight riding a two-fight losing streak. He is out of title contention but a third defeat in a row would be disastrous and potentially career-ending. Meanwhile, Covington lost his last outing to Kamaru Usman. The champion broke his jaw in a back-and-forth style.
Typically, Covington has a very high output. The big question was whether or not he’d be more gunshy because he suffered that serious injury. In sum, he was as tenacious as ever. He even won by TKO after Woodley had some kind of rib injury in the final round. Check out the highlights below.
Lo hace! @ColbyCovMMA rompe a Woodley en el quinto round #UFCVegas11 pic.twitter.com/yRKaugfIGm
— ufcespanol (@UFCEspanol) September 20, 2020
Grudge
Woodley has become one of the most predictable fighters on the roster. You know that he will throw leg kicks and that big overhand right. If you can stay out of the way of them, then you can nullify the rest of his game. Prior to this, he lost ten rounds in two fights to Gilbert Burns and Kamaru Usman.
Covington pressed forward and dominated the former champion. He threw 311 strikes compared to Woodley’s 116 across the five rounds. In round one he took down Woodley. He repeated this in the fourth, opening up a cut on ‘The Chosen One’s Face.
Una guerra de poderes en choque! #UFCVgeas11 💥 pic.twitter.com/GugxVOAf2V
— ufcespanol (@UFCEspanol) September 20, 2020
Dominant
In terms of round-by-round breakdown, there really isn’t much to say other than the fact that Covington dominated him. Once again, Woodley failed to mount a meaningful offense going forward. ‘Chaos’ put together some slick punch and kick combinations to rattle his nemesis going forward.
He was also dominant on the ground and this was where the finish came from. Covington took Woodley down in the final round and was jockeying for top position when Woodey cried out and tapped. He claimed to have suffered a rib injury but of course, Covington accused him of looking for an easy way out.
Regardless, Woodley didn’t look like he wanted to be in there. This was like when Anthony Johnson lost to Daniel Cormier for a second time and refused to listen to his coaches. If Woodley retired we wouldn’t be surprised. He’s 38 and the UFC has never loved him. Maybe it’s time to focus on that rap career.
Colby and Kamaru during the Post Fight Show. pic.twitter.com/xtKpaTfTrS
— Jed I. Goodman (@jedigoodman) September 20, 2020
Revenge
For Covington this win will be a massive relief. Back-t0-back losses would be very damaging to his hopes of fighting for the title again. As it was, his team put the perfect gameplan together. Now it looks like he’ll fight one of Jorge Masvidal – his old teammate – or his other nemesis, Kamaru Usman. He also racially abused Usman in an interview because Colby is Colby.
“Who did you get a call from?!” Covington said to Usman on ESPN. “Did you get a call from, freaking, your little tribe? Did they give you some smoke signals for you? You’re a joke Marty Fake Newsman!”
Will he get another title fight?
