As a two-time All-American wrestler and former UFC welterweight champion, Tyron Woodley seemed like the perfect candidate to join the roster at RAF but it took a little while to actually make it happen.
But Woodley finally made his debut at RAF 12 and he ultimately engaged in one of the most entertaining matches on the entire card when he defeated Joaquin Buckley in a back-and-forth battle. Before that match even started, Woodley already had his next assignment booked as he travels to Russia this week to face Khamzat Chimaev in the main event for the first ever RAF event in Moscow.
That’s exactly the kind of challenge Woodley wanted when he inked his deal with RAF but don’t put Colby Covington’s name on that list. Despite engaging in one of the nastiest rivalries in UFC history, Woodley has long since put Covington behind him, especially now when it comes to wrestling.
“They love Colby,” Woodley said about RAF when speaking to MMA Fighting. “That would be more of a match for him and more of a match for the promotion. I see he’s promoting Real American Beer, and he’s trying to revamp his name and brand. Really think about it. Did his brand really catch the masses? He didn’t even quite hit a million followers. That means not that many people are really buying into this bit.
“He was a good wrestler but he wasn’t a great wrestler. I would say I was a very good wrestler that being great at wrestling was my choice. It was something that I stopped myself from doing. But skill wise, work ethic wise in the room, I would say I was a great wrestler.”
Covington earned All-American honors once while he was wrestling at Oregon State and much like Woodley, he eventually decided that fighting was his future.
But Woodley remembers working with Covington while they were both coming up in the sport and even back then he already knew who was the superior wrestler in that matchup.
“Colby Covington, I used to bring him in for training camp when he had no money,” Woodley said. “The only money to his name was what I gave him weekly to come and train with me. He never won a moment. Never. Never even got near a takedown and he defended a lot of takedowns. He was always really strong.
“He’s like the kind of guy that has really good cardio and really good strength, but doesn’t work that hard and doesn’t lift at all. He’s naturally got really good cardio and really good strength and he uses that to his advantage.”
To his credit, Covington got the better of Woodley when they fought in the UFC but that matchup happened as “The Chosen One” was enduring a tough losing streak that eventually led to his exit from the promotion.
Woodley expects Covington is probably thinking the same thing when it comes to wrestling.
“Colby never wanted to compete against me when I was in my prime,” Woodley said. “He wanted to wait until he saw me lose a couple of times and it’s like ‘let me jump in there now!’ Same thing with the wrestling. He’d want to wait. So it would be more of a thing for him.”
But now that he’s back wrestling again, Woodley isn’t chasing the past but rather the future.
That’s why he was so willing to take a match against somebody like Chimaev in Russia because Woodley wants to face the best of the best that RAF can throw at him.
“For me, I would want to wrestle Jordan Burroughs,” Woodley said. “He’s an Olympic gold medalist. If you’re going to go big, why not go big? Colby’s not the biggest guy on the roster. I think Khamzat is a bigger match than he is. I feel like Jordan Burroughs is the biggest match I can have in the division.
“I like Arman [Tsarukyan]. I don’t know him. I don’t know him from a blade of grass but I like him. He wrestles a lot, doing jiu-jitsu, still fighting in the UFC. I don’t care where he came from with a platinum spoon in his mouth. He’s still going out there and testing it monthly! That kind of person is dangerous, I respect him. That’s a good matchup.”
Woodley also knows his name still matters and his accomplishments in wrestling make him a valuable commodity for someone like Chimaev, who comes from a similar background but just doesn’t have the same level of accolades.
That’s why this match is so big for both athletes in the main event in Moscow.
“I feel like a lot of people don’t recognize that him beating me is a massive win for him,” Woodley said. :Because I have way more credentials than him. Not just two time NCAA champion, I’ve beaten national champions, I’ve beaten Olympians.”
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