Former UFC Lightweight Champion Rafael Dos Anjos and Colby Covington are rumored to be battling for the vacant UFC Interim Welterweight Title this June at UFC 225.
Tyron Woodley is the current UFC Welterweight Champion and he doesn’t understand why an interim title bout may be happening next month.
“They already got me to fight the winner, they don’t need that belt,” said Woodley on MMA Tonight. “If I was dos Anjos, he’s taking a risk he doesn’t have to take. If he just wants to fight and stay active and keep going, that’s his prerogative but we’ve seen what happened to Frankie Edgar. Frankie Edgar had a clear shot at Max Holloway, he did the T-City [Ortega] thing, it didn’t work out quite right and now he got jumped. I told the UFC that I would be willing to fight him in July. They wanted me to fight him in June but June and having surgery on Dec. 20th seemed fairly quick. It usually takes six to eight months to recover. I’m pushing it up four to six months to recover.”
Woodley was last seen in the Octagon at UFC 214, successfully defending the gold against Demian Maia.
The champion doesn’t care who walks away victorious in the rumored UFC 224 bout because he plans on defending the gold against whomever wins the interim strap.
“If you think that I don’t want to fight, I make money fighting,” said Woodley. “This is what I do. When I’m fighting and I’m consistent, that’s when I’m at my best. So I’m just trying to have no emotion towards it. It is what it is. If the UFC decides that’s what they want to do, it’s their business, and if they feel like that’s the best thing for the situation, then that’s their call but we all know who the real welterweight champion is and whoever I fight next is just gonna have to get their ass whooped.”
UFC 225 takes place on Saturday, June 9 from the United Center in Chicago, Illinois with Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
