Colby Covington has made plenty of enemies in recent years.
The perennial top Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight contender, Covington, has been a staple of the division’s title scene since his interim strap-winning effort over Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 225 in June 2018. Fighting his way to the top as a member of mixed martial arts (MMA) super gym, American Top Team (ATT), Covington eventually had a falling out and parted ways with the team after making rivals in former friends like Jorge Masvidal, most notably.
Amongst other names soured on “Chaos” over the years has been ATT mainstay and Lightweight elite, Dustin Poirier. The pair have had indecisive back-and-forths publicly since Covington left the team, but ultimately, “The Diamond” would be a dream fight for Covington.
“A guy by the name of Dustin ‘Soreier,’” Covington told UFC.com. “He’s the one that got me kicked out of my old gym by crying and having feelings, saying, ‘Oh, Colby is a mean person. Kick him out of our gym,’ while we get locked in an Octagon to hurt each other in our underwear on Saturday nights. I would love to square up with Dustin ‘Soreier,’ but he’s afraid of me and he’s afraid of my shadow. I’ll never get to fight him because he’s just scared.”
Covington, 35, makes his return, challenging for the Welterweight title in his third attempt when facing the reigning champion, Leon Edwards, in the UFC 296 main event in Las Vegas next month (Sat., Dec. 16, 2023). After that, Covington has made it clear he wants to get his hands on the current Lightweight titleholder, Islam Makhachev, and welcomes the Dagestani dominator with open arms as his No. 1 current dream fight.
“Number one, for sure, is Islam Makhachev. That’s the money fight,” Covington said. “That needs to be settled. USA vs Russia. It’s the Rocky IV theme line. Rocky vs Drago. Everybody is talking like he’s pound-for-pound this, he’s pound-for-pound that. Against me, he’ll see a real fighter. He needs to stop being a weight bully, cutting all that weight to get the size advantage over people, and he needs to come see America’s champ. He needs to come see Donald Trump’s favorite fighter. I’ll see you soon, Islam.”