Getty Israel Adesanya
Current UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya couldn’t “hang” with Colby Covington inside the Octagon, the latter told MMA Fighting in a recent interview.
“Absolutely [I’d still love that matchup], I think that’s a huge fight and it’s a fight of high magnitude,” Covington said. “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 raw 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.”
Covington is preparing for his third shot at UFC welterweight gold. Although the bout isn’t official, promotion president Dana White has said on multiple occasions that “Chaos” is next up for 170-pound king Leon Edwards, and the match is expected to take place later this year.
Covington Would Shoot for ‘5000 Takedowns’ if He Fought Adesanya
Covington fully expects to become the welterweight division’s undisputed belt holder in 2023. And if he had the opportunity to move up in weight and take on “The Last Stylebender,” he said he’d overwhelm Adesanya with his wrestling game.
“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,” Covington said. “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.
“If that’s what the UFC wants to do, I’m here. I’m a company man, I’m a businessman so I care about the company and whatever the company wants to do, I want to do the biggest and best business for the company, the UFC, the greatest organization in the world.”
Covington Said It Was a ‘Very Realistic Possibility’ That He’d Fight ‘Weight Bully’ Islam Makhachev
Covington is eyeing another potential fight with a current UFC champion. Specifically, Chaos wouldn’t shy away from a tilt with 155-pound kingpin Islam Makhachev, who he called a “weight bully.”
“I think it’s a very realistic possibility,” Covington said. “There were conversations backstage in the past that we had about [a fight with Makhachev], and if I could make 155 because I’m not a big 170 [pounder]. I don’t cut much weight – 15-20 pounds max if I’m just completely eating as much as I can stuff in my face.
“So I know we probably walk around at the same weight, he’s just a weight bully. He’s cutting all that weight to get the advantage at lightweight because there’s no wrestlers, there’s no guys that can give him any trouble. So of course, he wants to be in that division, the same division his daddy Khabib [Nurmagomedov] used to own.
“There’s a reason Khabib never came to 170, fought at welterweight because King Colby’s here and he knows I’ll stop his wrestling and punch him in the face until he quits.”
