Tyron Woodley Picks Away at Colby Covington’s UFC Newark Performance

Colby Covington may have recorded a very one-sided victory over Robbie Lawler at UFC Newark this past weekend. But, was his rival Tyron Woodley impressed with what he saw? Nope. No he wasn’t.

Covington overwhelmed Lawler throughout much of the fight with take downs, forward pressure and a torrent of strikes. After five rounds had been completed, Covington had scored 10 take downs and out struck Lawler by a 201 – 82 margin. There was no doubt that “Chaos” would be awarded the decision win and he was.

Well, since the bout went down, many fans and pundits have been giving Covington credit for how dominant of a win he scored. But, while talking to TMZ Sports recently, Woodley had this to say about that notion (quotes via MMA Junkie):

“When is the last time you saw Robbie look good?” Woodley asked. “It’s been a while, so let’s not give him the credit for beating Anderson Silva after Anderson Silva was the GOAT for so many years.”

“I walked out and I texted Dana, ‘I want to (expletive) him up so bad,’” Woodley said. “… He just laughed because he knows looking at the style matchup. You think Colby is going to just rush me and dive at my legs and that’s (expletive) going to be enough? I’m not going to be like Robbie and just slip a million (expletive) punches looking like a damn drill in a boxing gym.”

There you have it. Now, it is true that Lawler has lost three straight. But in his controversial loss to Ben Askren, “Ruthless” demonstrated how dangerous he can still be. Further, it wasn’t that long ago really when Lawler bested Donald Cerrone.

That all said, one could question whether Covington’s game has been fully audited in the Octagon, in terms of how he’ll do against another top-tier wrestler. During his current, seven fight winning streak, Covington’s defeated some notable grapplers in Demian Maia, Dong Hyun Him and Rafael dos Anjos. But no one who comes from a wrestling background.

This is why so many people wanted to see him fight Woodley when the latter was champ (hopefully it happens at some juncture), and why the match-up with Kamaru Usman is so intriguing. Not only because of what will happen if Covington can’t score any take downs, but what if he gets taken down?