Dana White spoke about Colby Covington at the Contender Series last night.
Last time out Colby Covington cruised to a unanimous decision victory over his nemesis Jorge Masvidal. That anti-climatic fight came after weeks of trash talk and vitriol between the former training partners.
A few weeks after the fight Covington was attacked outside of a Miami restaurant, resulting in a chipped tooth. Masvidal has been charged with assault over this alleged incident.
It’s coming up to six months since we saw Covington in the cage and many have wondered when the highly ranked welterweight would return to the cage and who he might face. That speculation has only intensified now that the 170 lbs division has been shaken to its core by Leon Edwards’ dethroning of Kamaru Usman (a man who has beaten Covington twice).
Fellow title contender Gilbert Burns recently said he had heard that the reason Covington has been so quiet is because he is suffering from serious neck and jaw injuries. Burns went as far as to speculate that Covington’s injuries were somehow related to the broken jaw he suffered in a TKO loss to Usman in 2019.
At last night’s Contender Series event UFC President Dana White was asked about those rumours concerning Covington.
White shot them down, but didn’t provide any specifics regarding Covington’s health.
“Colby wants to fight,” said White (ht bjpenn). “He’s ready to fight and we’re making plans for him soon.”
Covington is currently ranked second in the welterweight division, behind only Usman and the new champion Edwards. Behind Covington are Khamzat Chimaev, Gilbert Burns and Belal Muhammad.
Chimaev is due to face Nate Diaz next month. Belal Muhammad also has a fight booked.
If Covington was hoping to jump right back into a title fight, he probably has to wait. White has been explicit in stating that Usman will receive an immediate rematch versus Edwards.
Covington came into the UFC in 2014 and won his first three bouts. In 2015 he suffered a submission loss to Warlley Alves and responded by going on a seven fight winning streak.
The last three of fights in that streak were against Demian Maia, Rafael dos Anjos and Robbie Lawler.
The run of wins earned him his first title shot at Usman. After losing that fight by TKO, he rebounded with a win over Tyron Woodley. In 2020 Covington was awarded another title shot against Usman, which he lost by unanimous decision.