UFC confirm Tyron Woodley title fight as he prepares to defend the belt

UFC Welterweight champion Tyron Woodley will defend his title against undefeated Liverpudlian Darren Till in September.

Till has won his last four fights following a draw with Nicolas Dalby in his second bout with the UFC and the 25-year-old has leapfrogged interim champion Colby Covington for a shot at Woodley's crown. Covington won the interim belt with an unanimous decision win over Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 225, however,  he recently underwent successful surgery to correct a nasal issue and should return to the Octagon by November. https://twitter.com/arielhelwani/status/1021880459742138370 Covington has not been stripped of his belt by the UFC but will concede his interim title as soon as Woodley's defence with Till begins, similar to how Conor McGregor was stripped of his lightweight belt at UFC 223 as soon as Khabib Nurmagomedov's fight with Al Iaquinta commenced. https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1021900819296210944 The reaction to the UFC's decision to strip Covington has not been well received with many asking why let Covington fight for an interim belt if the organisation would strip him of his title just six weeks later. https://twitter.com/DamonMartin/status/1021890918218121216 https://twitter.com/ImpactKM/status/1021911972001054720 Woodley revealed on Tuesday that the Covington fight had never been offered to him and that he discovered that he would be fighting Darren Till through the fighter's official Twitter account.

"I found out that Colby Covington is out of the fight on Twitter through Darren Till," said Woodley on Ariel Helwani's MMA show. "He said 'Colby's out of the fight, I'm in'. Number one, I was never formally offered Colby Covington, not only as an opponent, but I was never offered a date. "Somebody told me I might be coaching on the Ultimate Fighter, somebody told me it might be in September, somebody told me it might be Colby in November. "The interim champion is 'the champion until the king comes back' belt, the 'in the meantime' belt, when did that person become the shot caller?"

https://twitter.com/arielhelwani/status/1021788655936004096