UFC reportedly considering stripping Covington

The extremely well connected Ariel Helwani reports for ESPN that Colby Covington may be stripped of his interim title.

Because welterweight champion Tyron Woodley was recovering for an extended period from surgery, the UFC created an interim title fight between Covington and Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 225 on June 9. Covington won a decision, and the plan was of course for a unification fight.

The league wanted to hold that at UFC 228 on September 8, but for undisclosed reasons, Covington was unavailable. Now the UFC is reportedly planning to book Woodley’s first title defense vs. Darren Till, and further, may strip Covington of his interim belt.

It is unknown if this latest story is a means to pressure Covington into accepting the fight, or if he will indeed be stripped without a punch thrown.

Adding further confusion Till claims Woodley turned down the fight.

I don’t know what’s happening with Colby, whether he’s injured or not, but I’ve been offered Tyron Woodley and he turned the fight down, said Till to Ken Pishna for MMA Weekly. I’m not too bothered about it, but I get a feeling that [Woodley] thinks that nobody is worthy of fighting him for the title. I think he just wants to hold onto the belt for as long as he can. He’s going to have to make a decision soon. If he doesn’t want to fight me, who does he want to fight? It’s just me and Colby and Colby is injured apparently, so who is there? It’s a weird one, but I’m just waiting to see what happens.