Michael Chiesa’s top choice of opponent remains Colby Covington.
Chiesa made it three wins in a row at welterweight when he outpointed Rafael dos Anjos at UFC Raleigh earlier this year. He kept his post-fight interview short and sweet by proceeding to call out Covington.
While he is currently targeting a number of highly-ranked opponents in the division, “Chaos” remains the priority for Chiesa.
“Definitely guys ranked above me,” Chiesa said on The Luke Thomas Show (via BJ Penn). “[Gilbert] Burns, I think him and I are on a crash course. I love the guy, I think he’s great. We’ve been kind of picking at each other on social media. I’ll jump on his live feeds and message him, he’ll do the same for me. Awesome guy, styles make fights, I think that’s a fun fight. There’s Wonderboy, there’s Leon [Edwards], there’s Tyron [Woodley]. There’s all these guys ahead of me.
“There’s Colby. That’s the one I want the most. I want the Colby fight the most. That’s just MMA math. If I fought Colby, and I beat him — and I could beat him, and I would beat him, it’s a good matchup for me — I beat Colby, I think that puts me in the best position I could be in with one win. Whereas these other guys, I’d probably have to beat Burns then I’d have to beat a Woodley or a Leon, or somebody, to get in a position I would get in if I beat Colby, because he’s still the number-one guy. I’m just doing MMA math. I’ll take the tougher fight if I have to win one fight than to fight two of these other guys twice. But anybody above me for sure.”
Covington, however, only seems intent on fighting Woodley or current welterweight champion Kamaru Usman in a rematch at the moment. And so, it remains to be seen if Chiesa will get his wish.
However, “Maverick” does expect to compete in 2020 despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. He’s even willing to compete in the coming weeks provided it’s against an opponent he wants to fight as opposed to someone below him in the ranks.
“Yeah I’m confident, I’m confident I’ll fight in 2020,” Chiesa said. “I’m not going to deviate away from my regiment. There’s fights that I want, there’s matchups that interest me, but I’m not going to chase that matchup and get away from my regiment because there is no forgiveness.
“Let’s say they [UFC] call me and say ‘Hey do you want to fight on Fight Island in six weeks’ and it’s against one of the guys I want to fight, yeah I’ll do it but there’s no pardon once this thing ends. I’m in the Top-10. I’m not going to risk this position that I’ve been in to chase a matchup. I’m sticking to my regiment, sticking to my way I’ve been getting it done.”
@MikeMav22 lays out the most attractive welterweight options for him when MMA action returns #TLTS @lthomasnews
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) April 14, 2020
Who do you want to see Chiesa fight next?