Colby Covington is easily one of the biggest trash talkers in the UFC. However, he is also a very decent fighter and a force to be reckoned with inside the Octagon. Finding himself at the cusp of a title shot against Leon Edwards, Colby was not too impressed with Islam Makhachev’s attempt to hijack their fight.
Previously, Colby secured a win in his grudge match against Jorge Masvidal at UFC 272. Similarly, Leon Edwards captured the welterweight title at UFC 278 before defending it against Kamaru Usman again at UFC 286. As such, it was a big possibility that Colby and Leon would get their long-awaited showdown sometime this year.
Since then, the fight has seemingly materialized and is all but confirmed for UFC 295 at the Madison Square Garden later this year. However, there were some doubts after Islam Makhachev chose to call out Leon for UFC 294 instead. Talking about the callout, Colby said, “It seems like a desperation play. It looks like Islam’s afraid to defend his title against Charles. That’s kind of what it looked like to me.”
For the most part, many believed that Islam would rematch either Alexander Volkanovski or Charles Oliveira. Hence, his callout of Leon Edwards was a rather peculiar one. Moreover, Islam’s rematch against Charles has since been confirmed for UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi. However, that did not stop Colby from going after the lightweight champ.
Colby Covington slams Islam Makhachev for wanting to fight Leon Edwards
Speaking to Submission Radio, Colby further elaborated on the situation. According to Colby, Leon fighting at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi was never part of the plan, be it against him or Islam. Further, Colby states that he and Leon were meant to fight in London on the card which was shifted to a Fight Night event instead.
Moreover, Colby believes that it wasn’t even Islam Makhachev himself calling for the Leon fight. “Obviously we know that it wasn’t Islam that was tweeting, that was that rat, that sc*mbag Ali Adela-sleaze. That’s just Ali trying to get some hype around his fighter.” Since he (Islam) is ‘talking such a big game’, Colby believes that he should in fact come up to 170 in the future.
Previously, Covington has spoken a lot about wanting to fight Makhachev as well. In an interview with MMA Fighting, Colby spoke about potentially fighting Makhachev after beating Leon Edwards. For the most part, Colby believes that it is a very ‘realistic possibility’ seeing that he doesn’t cut much weight. Moreover, the fight would live up to the hype with a USA vs Russia angle thrown into the mix as well.
Having trained Adriano Martins, the fighter that knocked Islam out, Colby believes that it would be an easy night at the office for him. “I think I dust him inside of three rounds and it would be an easy first title defense and a big one. Champion vs. champion.” Do you think a fight between Islam and Colby happens in the future? Who do you think would win? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.