GLENDALE, Ariz. – UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is one of many confused by UFC’s decision to implement an interim title for the June fight between Rafael dos Anjos and Colby Covington at UFC 225.

Woodley (18-3-1 MMA, 8-2-1 UFC) has been on the mend since his successful title defense against Demian Maia at UFC 214 in July. He underwent shoulder surgery in December, and since coming out from under the knife said was targeting a return to the octagon in July. The UFC brass wasn’t willing to wait, though. On June 9 at the United Center in Chicago, dos Anjos (28-9 MMA, 17-7 UFC) is scheduled to clash with Covington (13-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) for the interim 170-pound strap.

Typically never hesitant to be outspoken about his position or treatment, Woodley said he’s reserving himself in this situation. However, he thinks it’s clear to everyone what the deal is.

“We all know it doesn’t have to have an interim title,” Woodley told MMAjunkie. “It’s a No. 1 contendership fight. And let’s be clear: Who was the No. 1 contender before then? Technically Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ (Thompson), to be honest. So this fight needed to happen to say who was the No. 1 contender. It didn’t need the interim belt behind it. Part of me wanted to be disrespected, but the other part is like, ‘You know what, I fought four times in a year.’ It hasn’t even been a year since I’ve been out. I was willing and ready to fight in July, which is still almost a month shy of being a year.

“What other champion, what other circumstance or situation have we ever seen this before? I’ve never seen it myself. It’s just focusing on rehabbing, focusing on doing what I need to do. I’m going to be real quiet right now and when I come back I’m going to let my hands do the talking.”

Woodley, 36, said he’s actually ahead of schedule with his recovery. He said the UFC approached him earlier this year about fighting before July, but at that point Woodley wasn’t comfortable enough with the state of his shoulder to accept. He didn’t want to agree to a date then have to withdraw, but fast forward to current day, and Woodley described his condition as “great.”

Before dos Anjos vs. Covington was booked at UFC 225, Woodley assumed he would be fighting former lightweight champ dos Anjos in his next bout. The fight could have happened if the Brazilian held out a little longer, but now dos Anjos is putting his chance to become undisputed champion at risk, and Woodley said that’s a serious gaffe.

“I accepted to fight ‘RDA’ in July,” Woodley said. “I’m looking at ‘RDA’ like, ‘Man, that don’t make a lot of sense. You don’t have to fight this fight. I already said I would fight you. No, you’re fighting a guy …’ – I just think of the Frankie Edgar situation. He got jumped over the ladder (by Brian Ortega at UFC 222). That’s his choice. They’re fighting for the ‘boo boo belt.’ The champion will be waiting to scrape up whoever is left over.”

If the fight goes the other way and Covington emerges victorious at UFC 225, Woodley will have a matchup in front of him that he’s not been overly eager about. Covington’s rise to prominence in recent years has come partially through his fighting, but also largely due to his verbal attacks on anyone who gets in his way, including Woodley.

There has been plenty of distasteful remarks from Covington thrown in Woodley’s direction. Woodley has ignored most of them, but he admits Covington will be the next man up if he wins at UFC 225, and “The Chosen One” thinks there’s a real shot it happens.

“I’ve just got to whoop his ass,” Woodley said of Covington. “I still don’t have to give him the time of day. He’s doing a lot of barking. 90 percent of his social media is resolved around me, which he might need to check his man card when he thinks about that. Also, who has he fought? Who has he beat? His first time fighting on FOX was his last fight against Maia. Prior to that he was a ‘Fight Pass phenom,’ fighting in Asia on Fight Pass and no one even knew him. I’m looking at his social media and I’m like, ‘If all 60,000 of your collective followers on all bases bought a pay-per-view, it means nothing.’ So I think he’ll looking at the scheme of MMA, this is what he needs to do. He’s trying to be the heel, but he has no knockouts ever in the history of his fighting.

“The mouth has to answer questions when the octagon locks. If he can through RDA, he’s a better wrestler than RDA, but RDA’s a better all-around fighter, but he fights really one dimensional. If Colby Covington can get into his head, pressure him, take him down like Clay Guida did, like Khabib (Nurmagomedov) did, he might be victorious. And then RDA gotta slap himself because he could have fought me straight up.”

For more on UFC 225, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.