Covington wants an opponent that can launch him back into title contention if he wins. According to Colby, Ian Garry ain’t that guy.
Colby Covington intends to fight at UFC 303 in June. He just isn’t interested in fighting Ian Machado Garry there.
Covington and Garry have been squawking back and forth for months now, to the point where we weren’t sure we wanted to experience the antics we’d undoubtedly have to witness if their fight got booked. But Covington slowly but surely stopping chirping back at Garry, and now there’s silence as Ian calls for Colby to sign a contract for UFC 303.
In a recent appearance on the Hodge Twins Podcast, Covington outlined his summer plans.
“I’m gonna fight this summer for sure, someone’s gonna get fought,” Covington said. “So yeah, they’re trying to figure out who’s the biggest name and the best business that we can do for the UFC. International Fight Week is like their big event in the summer, the UFC does a big festival all week and it’s capped off by this big pay-per-view on Saturday.”
“So I think that’s when they’re planning for me, International Fight Week. Just trying to figure out who who’s gonna be the guy.”
“I got unfinished business with my last fight, Leon Edwards, the guy that has the title right now,” he added. “I broke my foot in the first five seconds of that fight. I threw a kick, it broke in 3 different places. So that wasn’t me that night. I’m gonna probably have to fight someone else to get back to him. So whoever.”
“Chaos” no-sold “The Future” as a potential opponent.
“There’s this kid that’s been calling me out,” Covington said. “This kid, Ian Garry, he’s a nobody. I gave him some stipulations and said, ‘Hey man, if you wanna fight me, you have to show me you’re serious about business.’ Because when I do business, I’m serious about it. I show up to every fight. I’ve never pulled out of one fight. I’ve been injured. I’ve been sick. But I always show up and do my business because I love the UFC as the greatest organization on world. So he has to show me he’s serious.”
Garry pulled out of his UFC 296 fight against Vicente Luque with a bad case of pneumonia. But as far as Covington is concerned, he chickened out moments before the press conference to avoid Colby’s fierce burns.
“He was supposed to be on my last event in the press conference. He pulls out the day of the press conference because he knew I was gonna be on stage, and we’re gonna have some beef. So that shows me that he’s not serious.”
Is Covington serious about competing at UFC 303? If he is, he may have to accept Garry as the only available welterweight that could get him back into title contention.