Former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley continues to campaign for the next shot at current champion Kamaru Usman.
Usman captured the title from Woodley when he scored a dominant unanimous win in the co-headliner of the UFC 235 on Saturday, March 2, 2019, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. This was the latest fight for both men.
A rematch between Woodley and Robbie Lawler was supposed to headline the UFC Minneapolis event but Woodley was dealing with a hand injury.
Although UFC President Dana White had already agreed that Colby Covington would get the next shot at Usman, plans changed. With Usman on the sidelines, the promotion booked Covington against Lawler in the headliner of UFC Newark on August 3, 2019, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey and air on ESPN.
Tyron Woodley Lobbies for Title Shot
Speaking to ESPN on the red carpet of the ESPY award show yesterday, the former welterweight champion lobbied for the next shot at Usman.
“I think it’s so weird right now. Colby fighting Robbie is weird – even me fighting Robbie again was kind of weird,” Woodley said (H/T to MMA Fighting). “I think me and Usman should run it back. Health is doing well, hand is doing well, healing it up, training hard. I was training right before I came here so, all in all, I’m ready to get back after it, ready to get that belt back.”
“I think the fact that he’s injured, the fact that people are getting tired of Colby sitting around – he hasn’t fought since June of last year and he’s trying to call his shots from a sh*t camera phone – I think it’s real important that people get a moment to sit back and think,” Woodley said. “Tyron beat all the best welterweights, in their prime, the number one contenders, defended his title four times, took out Robbie Lawler in a fraction of a second – which is historical – and he loses a fight, has a bad night. I think if anybody else Joanna [Jedrzejczyk], Cody Garbrandt, Ronda Rousey, Holly Holm, anybody else, you see them in the title picture really quickly, so . . . The fans are kind speaking for me though.”
