UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley is scheduled to defend his title at UFC 235 on March 2 in Las Vegas — against Kamaru Usman, not against Colby Covington as originally expected.

While Woodley is now focused on this UFC 235 fight with Usman, and Covington is now at odds with the UFC, Woodley says he hopes to fight Covington almost immediately after he has dealt with Usman in March.

He’s hoping to settle his beef with the former interim champion in June, when he’s heard the UFC will touch down in Chicago.

“I just recognized that at some point I’m gonna fight all these guys,” Tyron Woodley told TMZ Sports recently (transcript via MMA Fighting). “Obviously the world would like to see me f*ck Colby up right quick but I think he’s trying to call shots and he’s not a champ so he can’t really do that. So I’m gonna go out there and fight Kamaru Usman and we’ll see what happens after that. Most likely I‘ll end up fighting Colby next up. Yeah, I’ll fight Colby next after that. Probably in June. I think they’ve got a fight in Chicago in June. I’m a midwest guy. I train in Milwaukee which is an hour and a half from Chicago, St. Louis is not that far, and I think I’ve got strong roots there as well so it would be a good fight to headline on that card.”

While this comment from Woodley sounds like good news for Covington, Covington is currently so frustrated with the UFC that he dared the promotion’s decision-makers to release him.

Do you think we’ll see Tyron Woodley and Colby Covington fight this year?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 1/7/2019.