3 reasons why the UFC need to make Woodley vs Covington happen in 2019

#3: It shows the value of UFC titles

The UFC's decision to have Darren Till fight Woodley was somewhat questionable

The overall value of the UFC’s titles has never been brought into question as much as it has recently and that’s largely the fault of the promotion itself. They’ve simply introduced too many interim titles, given too many unwarranted title shots out and put together too many needless ‘superfights’ recently, and that’s caused the fans a lot of unrest – and worse still, it’s caused some not to care anymore.

Welterweight however has largely been a pretty consistent area even since the WME buyout in 2016. Woodley captured the title by dethroning longtime champ Robbie Lawler in July 2016, and then went to a draw with challenger Stephen Thompson a few months later. An instant rematch was made that Woodley won, and then he defended successfully against the new top contender, Demian Maia.

That’s where things got a little bit off-track, though. Woodley was then sidelined due to needing shoulder surgery, and when it emerged that he’d be out for over a year, the UFC decided to introduce an Interim title, matching Covington against Rafael Dos Anjos. Given Woodley’s layoff, this could probably be excused.

What was more questionable however was after Covington won and subsequently needed minor surgery, rather than wait for him to return to set up the title unification match, the UFC simply awarded a title shot to Darren Till instead. Sure, UFC 228 needed a main event and Woodley was available, but even so – it was pretty bad to totally ignore the interim title.

With Woodley beating Till and Covington only just being ready to return though, the UFC now has a chance to right that mistake. By matching Woodley and Covington in the next Welterweight title fight, the integrity of the division and the worth of the interim title Covington has since been stripped of – remains mostly intact. It’s not like Covington has fought since, which would pretty much excuse the Till title shot.

If any other fighter is awarded a shot at Woodley – even streaking fighters like Kamaru Usman and Santiago Ponzinibbio – while Covington is healthy, then it shows there’s something rotten with the UFC. If they finally give us Woodley vs. Covington, then the 170lbs division remains a strong constant amongst so much chaos – no pun intended – elsewhere in the promotion.