Colby Covington will not be satisfied with just one UFC title.
“Chaos,” who is next in line to challenge reigning welterweight kingpin Leon Edwards for the 170-pound strap at some point later this year, has also set his sights on middleweight gold and does not appear to be the slightest bit intimidated by current 185-pound champion Israel Adesanya.
Just don’t expect much of a standup battle.
“I think that’s a huge fight and it’s a fight of high magnitude,” Covington told MMA Fighting. “I like the matchup, to be honest. 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. He can’t hang with the cardio king. He’s not ready for all-American steel and twisted sex appeal. I would love that fight, champion vs. champion, USA vs. wherever he’s from New Zealand or whatever, let’s get this going. I don’t think he wants to fight a high-level wrestler like me, someone that can just keep up and be in his face the whole entire time, pressuring him. 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.”
Adesanya has been taken down nearly 20 times in his UFC career.
Working in Covington’s favor is the fact “The Last Stylebender” has pretty much cleaned out the middleweight division and will start recycling contenders when he makes his Octagon return toward the end of the year. “Chaos” will first have to hold up his end of the bargain and defeat Edwards for the 170-pound strap.
Covington vs. Adesanya … who wants it?