There were a few reasons why Colby Covington didn’t end up facing Leon Edwards this past weekend.
Covington was viewed as the initial replacement opponent for Edwards once Khamzat Chimaev had to pull out of the fight due to COVID-19 related issues.
However, that didn’t end up panning out with Belal Muhammad stepping in instead. So what was the reason Covington didn’t fight Edwards?
For one, he wanted a lot more money than was offered to him. Then, of course, he was also allegedly getting close to UFC flyweight Polyana Viana with Covington posting a photo of themselves in recent weeks.
“There wasn’t much talks, you know?” Covington told Submission Radio (via RT). “I was balls deep in Polyana Viana, so get me off the couch in three weeks notice to fight some Leon Scott [Edwards] guy. You know, it was going to be a price tag. I wanted a little bit more than was in my contract, I just wasn’t gonna show up for a normal paycheck to fight that guy. The way I fight guys, I redline it every time I fight.
“So when I fight you know you’re getting a Ferrari that’s coming forward, high octane, high energy, and he’s coming to fight and bring the fight. … So if I want to fight at my best, I need a full training camp. That fight was never gonna happen unless the UFC was gonna pay for it to happen because like I said before, I was with Polyana Viana. I got better things to do than show up on some irrelevant card against some irrelevant guy named Leon [Edwards].”
Of course, Viana had previously come out and stated that she and Covington are just friends. So it should be interesting to see what she has to say about these comments from Covington.
What do you think of Covington’s reasons for not fighting Edwards?