Tyron Woodley Updates His Expected Timeline to Return to UFC Following Surgery

Tyron Woodley is now in recovery after undergoing surgery to repair damage to his hand following his most recent win over Darren Till at UFC 228.

Woodley won the fight in the second round with a D’arce choke but that came after he bludgeoned the Brit with a heavy barrage of elbows and punches that ended with the welterweight champion suffering an injury to his thumb and wrist.

“The CMC joint, I dislocated my thumb in the fight,” Woodley explained when speaking on TMZ. “I did it in the first round and then I actually tore ligaments. At the end of the first round I actually punched and it hit the back of his head. The second round, I started elbowing and punching and then I got on top and the coach was like ‘hook punch him, hook punch him’ so I started doing what we call the hook punch and my hand started hurting.

“So I was like let me elbow this motherf–ker so that’s what I started doing.”

Woodley admits that he’s still in a tremendous amount of pain following the surgery but the good news is that the injury ultimately won’t keep him out of action all that long.

While he originally thought he might be sidelined for the better part of three to four months, the aftermath of the surgery was a much more optimistic outlook on his return to the UFC.

“Six to eight weeks. He said in two weeks I can be moving around, six to eight weeks I should be training full go,” Woodley said. “He doesn’t want me to fight before six to eight weeks so obviously I would have to do a full training camp as well. Probably January.”

Woodley doesn’t know for certain who he’ll be facing when he returns but it’s likely a showdown with former interim champion Colby Covington.

UFC president Dana White has previously stated Woodley vs. Covington was the next fight to make in the welterweight division once the champion is healthy and ready to compete again.