Colby Covington has long been away from the limelight. Following an embarrassing performance against Leon Edwards, Covington has been out of the public eye, and for good reason. That said, rumblings of a potential fight have seen the welterweight once again return to the spotlight and back in his trash-talking persona.
For those unaware, Colby Covington suffered yet another loss in his third attempt to capture welterweight gold late last year at UFC 296. Despite a lot of wild promotion for the fight, the 36-year-old failed to deliver inside the Octagon, and as a result, faced a lot of public backlash for crossing boundaries with his trash talk and then failing to deliver on the hype.
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That said, there has since been a lot of talk regarding a potential fight with surging welterweight prospect Ian Garry at UFC 303, International Fight Week. Whilst the Irishman has been the one calling for it, Colby Covington has been played off the callouts, calling for other more beatable names instead. In a recent appearance, the former interim title holder touched on the topic and much more on NFL defensive end Maxx Crosby’s podcast.
Is the Jorge Masvidal vs. Nate Diaz boxing rematch failing to generate any hype?
On a separate note, another one of Colby Covington’s rivals, in fact, his former best friend turned hated arch-enemy Jorge Masvidal recently announced his return to combat sports. In what will be a match of their initial BMF title fight, Masvidal will take on Nate Diaz in a boxing match. Naturally, the initial announcement perplexed many people, with nobody quite understanding the motive behind it.
Whilst Masvidal has forcefully brought on some ‘beef’ between himself and Nate Diaz, who hardly seems interested, there are not too many fans and fighters excited for this one. That said, there have been a lot of concerns regarding PPV buys and viewership for the event and understandably so. Amidst all that is happening, Colby Covington gave his take on the two former UFC fighters squaring off in the ring.
🚨 THE TIME HAS COME 🚨#DiazMasvidal goes down on June 1st at the @thekiaforum, and you can be there up close and personal💥🥊
Get your tickets NOW at https://t.co/EF0OLHRxE9 #NateDiaz #JorgeMasvidal #LA #Forum #Boxing #Fight pic.twitter.com/YCDsA1NRHM
— Fanmio (@fanmio) April 19, 2024
“Nah, I don’t care but, I’m on your guys’ pod, so I’ll give a take. These are just two over-the-hill MMA fighters, they’re going to a sport they don’t even do, like, what are we doing here man, what is this?”
Notably, as per recent reports, the fight has since been postponed. Owing to a clash of dates with UFC 302 and the Queensberry-Matchroom 5 vs 5 boxing event on June 1, the fight has now been moved to July 6, Additionally, it will now take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim instead of the previously proposed Kia Forum in Inglewood, California.
Colby Covington claims that all of Jake Paul’s opponents are paid off
Aside from publicly ducking Ian Garry once again, Colby Covington veered off into many different tangents. Calling to fight Belal Muhammad and Khamzat Chimaev, both of whom are either set to be booked or already booked, Covington was up to his usual antics. That said, the podcast hosts also felt the need to ask about his opinion on influencer boxing.
More specifically, ‘Chaos’ was asked about whether or not, he feels that Jake Paul pays off his opponents to take dives and lose to him. Being a fighter and self-proclaimed ‘Donald Trump’s favorite fighter’ Colby Covington stated with full surety that all the fighters were being paid off to lose to the internet sensation.
“For sure, hundred percent. I’ve heard from multiple people that they’re paying guys off to take dives when they fight him. I heard when they fought Tyron Woodley, a former opponent of mine that I finished and knocked out, so he went over and fought Jake Paul after that and I heard a lot of people saying that he got paid $5 million to take the fight.
“You can see the way they were in the ring afterwards, like dude, you just fought that person and now you guys are gonna be best friends? I’ve heard a lot that he pays guys off, they got the machine behind them. They got Hollywood, he was a Lizzy McGuire star in Disney so, I call him Lispy McGuire.”
That said, Colby Covington is certain that his former opponent Tyron Woodley took the dive on both occasions in exchange for a massive bag. That said, the fighter has also expressed his disdain for the YouTube star taking on boxing legend Mike Tyson. With Mike nearing 60 years of age, and with a thirty-year gap between the two, it’s safe to say that many people do not want to see him anywhere near the boxing ring.
