Former interim UFC welterweight champion Colby Covington is aiming to challenge current middleweight champion Israel Adesanya for his title.
Covington believes that he can beat Adesanya at 185 pounds in “a fight of high magnitude,” as “Chaos” called it. He said he had the size, strength and wrestling skills to dominate the Nigerian Kiwi.
“I don’t think he can hang with me. I think I take him down, I beat him from pillar to post, and I just break him inside that Octagon,” said Covington in an interview with MMA Fighting.
“I’m not just going to shoot one takedown. I’m going to shoot 5,000 takedowns and be in your face and break you.”
Previous fights
Before his previous title challenge at UFC 268, Covington mentioned that he would move up to middleweight to challenge Adesanya. Unfortunately, Covington lost to Adesanya’s friend Kamaru Usman, who was the reigning welterweight champion at the time, by unanimous decision.
Almost two years later, Covington’s goal of conquering the welterweight and middleweight divisions remains unchanged.
“Absolutely [I’d still love that matchup], I think that’s a huge fight and it’s a fight of high magnitude.”
Colby Covington, former interim UFC welterweight champion
Covington currently holds rank No. 2 in the welterweight division. He is supposed to return to action later this year and challenge reigning champion Leon Edwards, who has two victories over Usman at UFC 278 and UFC 286. UFC President Dana White has confirmed this match several times, but there is no specific date yet.
Chaos has been out of action since March 2022, when he defeated Jorge Masvidal with a unanimous decision. This is why his pursuit of a third title fight in the welterweight division has raised eyebrows among some fighters who believe he has not earned the opportunity compared to fighters like Gilbert Burns and Belal Muhammad, who have been racking up victories.
However, he needs to take the title in the 170-pound division if he wants the opportunity to move up to middleweight and challenge Adesanya for the title.
Meanwhile, Adesanya is coming off a victory over longtime rival Alex Pereira at UFC 287. He is reportedly looking to return to the Octagon soon, with Robert Whittaker and Dricus du Plessis being considered as potential opponents.
Pereira, the former UFC middleweight champion, believes that Adesanya will have an easy time against du Plessis if they were to fight. Pereira made this statement on his official YouTube channel, where he also speculated that Adesanya would be rooting for du Plessis to defeat Robert Whittaker in their upcoming fight.
Pereira believes that Whittaker proved to be a tough challenge for Adesanya in their rematch last year and that Adesanya’s recent performances may give Whittaker even more confidence in his ability to reclaim the UFC middleweight championship.
Another potential matchup
Aside from Adesanya, Covington is also interested in fighting the current lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev, if he wins the UFC welterweight championship.
Covington had mentioned this potential matchup before and confirmed that the UFC had discussed it with him. He is open to fighting Makhachev at either welterweight or lightweight.
The 35-year-old said he was confident that he could make the 155-pound weight limit. He also accused Makhachev of walking with the same weight as him, calling him a “weight bully.”
“He’s cutting all that weight to get the advantage at lightweight because there’s no wrestlers, there’s no guys that can give him any trouble. So of course, he wants to be in that division,” said Covington.