UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley stated that he would fight at UFC 230 in just under two months if the promotion wanted the champion to do so.
There may be a hitch to the potential plan, which is that Woodley has a thumb injury suffered at UFC 228 and he is getting a second opinion before deciding what to do about UFC 230.
“I’ve got an MRI on my thumb and I’m sending it for a second opinion,” Woodley said to MMA Junkie. “If I’m good, then I have no issue with fighting in November. The more I fight, the better rhythm I get in the swing of things. Obviously, I just fought, so I’m still in phenomenal shape. I’ve been eating pancakes, shrimp fried rice, brownies – taking a week and eating some bullcrap. It all depends on how severe my thumb injury is. I dislocated it in the first round punching him in the back of the head. I thought it was just jammed.”
The UFC has yet to announce the main event for the annual Madison Square Garden card, which is set for November 3.
Colby Covington has been mentioned as a possible opponent for Woodley, but the champion isn’t very concerned about fighting him while injured.
“I would love to fight in Madison Square Garden again,” he said. “Not to sound arrogant, but would never take a fight against Darren Till if not 100 percent confident in both my hands. So I think I could beat (Covington) even if my hand’s a little jacked up.”
A short time after the original story above came out, it was revealed by Ariel Helwani of ESPN that Woodley is getting surgery on his hand and cannot compete at UFC 230.
UFC 230 takes place on Saturday, November 6 from Madison Square Garden in new York, New York with no main event announced at this time. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
