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Covington taking Woodley seriously, says fight won't be a 'cakewalk'

Jeff Bottari / UFC / Getty

Colby Covington may not like Tyron Woodley, but he doesn't believe Saturday's grudge match will be an easy night at the office.

"Chaos" is being pegged as a 3-1 betting favorite in the UFC Fight Night main event in Las Vegas, seemingly because Woodley has lost his last two contests. However, the former interim champion thinks the bout might be closer than the odds indicate and believes it's important to ignore Woodley's critics.

"I can't look at the odds," Covington told TSN's Aaron Bronsteter on Thursday. "That's not going to be reflective of what the fight's going to be like and how close the fight could be.

"If I look at the odds, it just looks like it's going to be a cakewalk and I'm just going to walk through him. Realistically, that's not what it's going to be, because this is such a heated rivalry. This is a genuine beef. This isn't a manufactured beef. We want to rip each other's heads off."

Woodley, who held the UFC welterweight belt from 2016-19, suffered one-sided defeats to current champion Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns in his last two outings, which prompted many fans to claim he's on a downward trajectory.

However, Covington doesn't see it that way.

"He's not past his time," Covington said. "He's 38 years old. Daniel Cormier's 41 years old and he just fought for a world title."

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