Some folks are pondering if this Saturday is Colby Covington’s last real shot at an undisputed title. But Covington? He’s already eyeing the two-division glory.
Covington, the former Ultimate Fighting Championship interim welterweight titleholder, is set to challenge Leon Edwards in the main event of UFC 296. This event is happening in Las Vegas this Saturday. Despite not having fought since last March, and despite two of his last four outings being title losses, Covington has another shot against Edwards.
How did he bag this opportunity? Well, his penchant for incendiary statements played a part.
Covington is a slight underdog going into this week’s matchup. But he’s already disclosed his next target: UFC middleweight champ Sean Strickland. Strickland is notorious for expressing his unhinged opinions on controversial topics. But Covington thinks he’s got him figured out. He believes he can shut him down.
In Covington’s words to CODE Sports, “He’s pretending to be everything he wishes I was. I’d love to slap Sean Strickland around. He’s just a pathetic excuse of a human being, the guy has literally no fricking IQ. The guy’s so f****** stupid. The things he says, he needs to get his mouth wired shut and I’m the guy to do it. The UFC knows I’m the one that can end these guys that hate the company and they hate the world, so I would love to fight Sean Strickland.”
Strickland, who shocked the world by upsetting Israel Adesanya for the 185-pound title in September, is set to defend his title against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 on Jan. 20. The middleweight division has no shortage of contenders waiting for the next shot. But Covington? He’s not keen to face a fellow contender in his hypothetical middleweight debut, even a former champ like Robert Whittaker.
“No, that ship has sailed,” Covington said. “Robert, he lost the title and then he got beat in a contender fight so he’s just not relevant anymore, he doesn’t make sense for me. I’m the top of the division, I’m about to be welterweight champion of the world, so I only want the biggest and best fights the UFC has to offer and I know they wouldn’t even waste my time and waste their time to try and put that fight together.”