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Woodley not retiring after 3rd straight loss

Chris Unger / UFC / Getty

Tyron Woodley has no plans to retire following his loss to Colby Covington at Saturday's UFC Fight Night.

The former welterweight champion, who's riding a three-fight skid, said during an Instagram Live session Monday that he also won't leave head coach Din Thomas or switch teams in any way.

"I'm not retiring, I'm not giving it up, I'm not switching all my coaches up, I'm not changing the continent I live on," Woodley said. "I'm not doing all that. Some shit didn't happen, and guess what? I don't know why it didn't happen. I did everything to make it happen, and now we just take a deep breath and see what's next."

After Woodley's fifth-round TKO loss to Covington, UFC president Dana White said the 38-year-old should start thinking about retirement.

Woodley broke his rib in the final moments of the Covington bout and is recovering in Las Vegas. Covington won the first four rounds on all three judges' scorecards, including a 10-8 Round 4.

Many believe Woodley hasn't looked the same since dropping the 170-pound title to Kamaru Usman in March 2019. Woodley suffered a one-sided defeat to rising contender Gilbert Burns in May, and he once again struggled to generate offense against Covington, arguably his biggest rival.

Woodley's most recent victory is a submission of Darren Till in September 2018. That marked his fourth successful title defense after capturing the belt against Robbie Lawler in 2016.

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