According to current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight champion Colby Covington, a potential flight against Nick Diaz to headline UFC 230 a few weeks ago inside Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y. was offered in the weeks leading up to fight night.
To hear “Chaos” tell it, though, the “Stockton Slugger” didn’t want any part of him, and as a result, Diaz has missed his chance to ever step into the cage against him
“No chance [I fight him],” Colby Covington said on an recent appearance on BJPENN Radio. “I wanna defend my belt, you know. The Nick Diaz fight, it was cool, I would’ve been willing to save The Garden and make The Garden great again. You know the Trump family would’ve came out to support, it would’ve been a spectacle. I would’ve made history there. But now, he’s been passed up. I’m not wasting my time on him, he’s irrelevant.”
Nick struck a deal with United States Anti Doping agency (USADA) which made him eligible to return to action earlier this year. And when UFC needed a big-time title fight to headline UFC 230 last-minute, the promotion apparently came knocking to no avail.
In the end, Daniel Cormier and Derrick Lewis were paid big money to fill in on short notice.
As far as Diaz goes, the potential matchup has now lost its luster and “Chaos” will now be setting his sights on unifying his belt against current 170-pound champion, Tyron Woodley, possibly at UFC 233 on January 26, 2018.
“He’s a jobber, he hasn’t won a fight in years. He’s definitely 209’s weakest… a bunch of those soy-boys over there in California, smoking that marijuana. So you know, he’s a joke. I don’t wanna waste my time anymore with guys like him, you know. Chumps,” he added.
“I got bigger and better things to do, you know? I gotta unify this title with Woodley and then after that, then we’ll start talkin’ big fights.”
As far as Nick is concerned, a fight that is on the table is one against Jorge Masvidal, which will see him fight for the first time in nearly three years if he signs on the dotted line to battle at UFC 235 on March 2, 2019.
Are you buying what Colby is selling or is it another case of wolf tickets?