An interim welterweight title fight between Rafael dos Anjos and Colby Covington is expected to be announced on Friday at a UFC press conference in Brooklyn and now there appears to be an explanation why that matchup is happening.
According to UFC president Dana White, reigning welterweight champion Tyron Woodley was not ready to return as scheduled after telling the promotion that he couldn’t fight again until at least August.
Now Woodley has stated publicly that he would be ready to fight again in July but White seems to think differently based on what he said on Wednesday.
“Tyron Woodley, we were trying to get him to fight, he came back with a doctor’s note that says he is injured and he cannot fight until August,” White revealed on “UFC Tonight”.
Woodley being delayed until August would mean that his welterweight title would be on the shelf for over a year with his last defense coming in July 2017.
Of course that doesn’t tell the full story of Woodley’s record as champion as he’s been one of the most active title holders on the UFC roster with three title defenses inside a nine month period between Nov. 2016 and July 2017.
Still the UFC is planning on moving forward with the interim title fight in May that will see Covington take on dos Anjos with the winner then expected to unify the belt with Woodley later this year.
White stopped short of confirming the Covington vs. dos Anjos fight but both athletes are expected to be in attendance at the UFC 25th anniversary press conference on Friday starting at approximately 6:45 p.m. ET with full coverage on MMAWeekly.com.
