Tyron Woodley vs. Colby Covington is one of the longest grudges in the UFC today. The fight has been targeted twice (UFC 227, UFC 233), but in spite of all the trash talk and back and forth, we are still waiting to see the two lock horns. Earlier this week, Kamaru Usman posted a signed bout agreement to face Woodley, so it seems we may be waiting even longer yet for a Woodley/Covington grudge match. Still, in an appearance on FS1’s Fair Game With Kristine Leahy, Woodley gathered viewers around the camp fire and engaged in “story time with Tyron Woodley,” where the champ chronicles how he, essentially, ran Colby Covington out of American Top Team.

“I was ready to fight for a number-one contendership fight, and I brought him in to help me out,” Woodley began. “We was in a training session, and I just remember having him in these submissions, and he would turn blue like a blueberry. And he would put it up on my charge card to either let him go or put his ass to sleep. So a few times, I’m like, he’s about to go out, and I let him out.

“He popped his head out—boo, boo, boo. And now, he acts like he defended the submission and keeps trying to continue with the live go. So now, I’m like, ‘all right.’”

“OK, then, we’ll start doing another drilling technique. And he was an All-American wrestler, so he was brought in to do what? Wrestle.

“So we get to the wrestling portion and practice. ‘All right, Tyron needs his partners for wrestling. And he’s like…(Humming)…walking around in the weight room, looking like he don’t hear people calling him to come to wrestle.”


It was at this point that Tyron Woodley moved to the climax of the story, where Colby Covington would temporarily step away from ATT.

“The last straw is, I was wrestling him, and I told my coach, I said, ‘I’m about to torture him today,” Woodley said. “I’m about to take him down. And watch how he gets pissed off. For some reason, he thought in his mind that, me, as being an All-American as well, that I should not be able to take him down.

“So I started taking him down, and taking him down, and taking him down, and taking him down. And he got so mad, and livid, and busted out the room, and swearing and cursing.

“And it got to a sparring session, and I was like, Colby, let me holla at you right quick. He said, ‘cool.’

“I said, let me tell you something. You’re a [EXPLETIVE]. You’re a [EXPLETIVE]. And today, if you don’t tap out, I’m going to break your [EXPLETIVE] arm. I’m going to put you to sleep. And if you get spicy when we start striking, I’m going to knock you the [EXPLETIVE] out. You make the choice. I’m not doing that no more today. We’re not going to play around…

“If you’re in a submission, learn how not to get put into it. Don’t make me, the fighter, choose not to hurt you.

“And we had the sparring session. And, miraculously, he had to go back to Florida. He was injured. His ankle was hurting.”