'I'll knock you out'… Colby Covington was warned by UFC legend ahead of heated sparring session

12/19/2024 11:45 AM

An MMA icon once threatened to knock Colby Covington out before their sparring session even happened.

The former UFC champion certainly wasn’t in the mood for any of the trash-talker’s antics.

Tyron Woodley threatened Colby Covington in final sparring session together

Before ever meeting in the octagon, Tyron Woodley and Colby Covington used to share the mats, training alongside one another to hone their craft.

Eventually, the pair would engage in a heated rivalry, with ‘Chaos’ getting the better of a past his prime ‘The Chosen One’ when they finally fought for real.

However, before their clash, Woodley was a revered operator, who conquered the welterweight division, and commanded a huge degree of respect inside the gym.

With that in mind, he had no issue threatening Covington in the moments before the last spar they ever shared.

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During an episode of The Ariel Helwani Show, the 42-year-old, said: “I told Colby the last day he trained with me, I said, ‘Colby, you a d**k’. And I said, ‘Today, if you act like you getting out of an arm bar or if you don’t submit to a choke or you get mad that I took you down, and have an attitude, and I’m a two-time All-American Hall of Fame wrestler, like I’m not supposed to take you down, if you run from me, I’m going to break your f**ing arm, today, I’m going to choke you out, I’m going to knock you out, if you run from me and you run off the mat, like you’ve been doing the whole camp, I’m going to follow you, and I’m going to beat your a**. Have we got that clear’? He said, ‘Yes’. Then, he left the next day.”

Exactly what Chael Sonnen said to Colby Covington to console him after devastating loss to Joaquin Buckley 

In the years since their fight, the pair have gone in different directions, with Woodley heading down the boxing route, while Covington did everything in his power to claim the 170-pound title for himself.

Despite three attempts, the polarizing fighter has yet to reach his goal, with his ambitions taking another hit on Saturday night in the form of a loss to Joaquin Buckley at UFC Tampa.

In the aftermath of the loss, Chael Sonnen proved his class, giving his friend some incredibly comforting words.

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