Colby Covington is tired of Sean Strickland’s big mouth. How’s that for a twist of irony?
On Saturday night (December 16) Covington returns to the Octagon nearly two years removed from his grudge match with former friend turned bitter rival Jorge Masvial. Yet somehow, ‘Chaos’ will stumble into yet another welterweight title opportunity, this time against reigning world champion Leon Edwards. The two fighters will headline the promotion’s final pay-per-view of the year, UFC 296, emanating from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
If Covington manages to pull off the upset, he will be the third American-born fighter to claim UFC gold in the last four months. Sean O’Malley captured the bantamweight crown in August, defeating Almamain Sterling. A month later, controversial 185’er Sean Strickland scored a shocking unanimous decision victory over Israel Adesaya.
With Covington just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the middleweight division, ‘Chaos’ would love the opportunity to move up and shut Strickland’s mouth for good once he takes care of some business with Leon Edwards.
“He’s pretending to be everything he wishes I was,” Covington said in an interview with Code Sports. “I’d love to slap Sean Strickland around. He’s just a pathetic excuse of a human being, the guy has literally no fricking IQ. The guy’s so f*cking stupid. The things he says, he needs to get his mouth wired shut and I’m the guy to do it. The UFC knows I’m the one that can end these guys that hate the company and they hate the world, so I would love to fight Sean Strickland.”
Whether he wins or loses at UFC 296, Colby Covington seems keen on making the move to middleweight where a plethora of fresh matchups await.
Colby Covington Rules out one potential opponent at middleweight
This wouldn’t be the first time ‘Chaos’ has shown an interest in moving up. In the past, Covington has teased a potential clash with former middleweight champ Robert Whittaker. However, with Whittaker’s recent struggles to find the win column, Covington is aiming for something a bit bigger in his divisional debut.
“No, that ship has sailed,” Covington said of a potential fight with Whittaker. “Robert, he lost the title and then he got beat in a contender fight so he’s just not relevant anymore, he doesn’t make sense for me. I’m the top of the division, I’m about to be welterweight champion of the world, so I only want the biggest and best fights the UFC has to offer and I know they wouldn’t even waste my time and waste their time to try and put that fight together.
“This is a business and they want to make money, so it’s all about making the biggest and best fights for the fans and for the UFC. Whatever the UFC says, they know I’m a yes man, I’m a company man, whatever they say, Colby Covington will agree on.”