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An apparent injury ended the welterweight main event between Colby Covington and Tyron Woodley in the fifth round of UFC Vegas 11 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas Saturday, Sept. 19.
Woodley suffered some sort of rib injury and was screaming before being heard saying, “F---, I hurt my ribs.”
The fight was stopped a minute and 20 seconds into the fifth and final round with Covington in working to get into half guard and Woodley attempting a guillotine.
The No. 2 ranked Covington improved to 16-2 while No. 5 ranked Woodley dropped to 19-6-1.
In addition, Covington’s 11-2 welterweight record is the third best win percentage in the division just behind current champion Kamaru Usman and UFC Hall-of-Famer George St. Pierre.
Immediately after the stoppage, Covington got to his feet, found a camera and said, “I want my belt back,” before calling out Usman and Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal.
After getting dressed and donning his “Keep America Great” hat, Covington had words with Usman, who was working for Fox Sports as an analyst.
“I’m coming for you” and “You’re dead” were just some of the things Covington spat out toward Usman, who in response said, “I broke your face.”
After yelling back in defense, Covington explained that he was “playing before but [he’s] not playing now.”
It was the first fight for the Florida resident since losing to Usman back at UFC 245 in December 2019.
That fight was stopped with 50 seconds left in the last round after Covington had been dropped for a second time and was bleeding from the mouth.
In this resurgence, Covington landed 75 percent of all total strikes and 55 percent of all significant strikes.
Looking more composed and methodical, Covington still attempted to walk down his opponent at a slower pace.
The former Division-1 championship wrestler took his former American Top Team training partner and did a lot of damage.
The damage included opening a cut over the right eye of Woodley, who was in the full guard position, in what all judges scored a 10-8 round.
In addition, Covington successfully pushed Woodley against the Octagon fence and did more damage.
Overall, Covington landed 35 clinch or ground strikes while Woodley landed 34 significant strikes in total.
Post fight with Jon Anik, the winner took the time to express his displeasure with the “woke athletes.”
During the same time, he took the time to campaign for current President of the United States Donald J. Trump, saying he would win the Nov. 3rd election by a landslide over Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Furthermore, Covington called out all the “spineless cowards like [Los Angeles Lakers star] LeBron James.”
The act of patriotism was rewarded with a phone call from President Trump which was placed on speaker for the cameras.
In his spat with Usman, Covington asked if he had gotten any calls from his “little tribe” and did anybody send him any “smoke signals.”
UFC President Dana White explained that welterweight Gilbert Burns is the No. 1 contender for Usman’s title, while teasing the idea of a Covington - Masvidal matchup.
Masvidal is the former best friend and roommate of Covington.
As for Woodley, this is his third straight loss dating back to March 2019.
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