Colby Covington is already looking towards his next fight just days out from UFC 296.
Covington will challenge Leon Edwards this Saturday night for the welterweight championship live on ESPN+ pay-per-view. The event headlines the show from Las Vegas and the T-Mobile Arena.
While Covington isn’t looking past Edwards, he is already thinking who might be next once he becomes a champion: reigning middleweight titleholder Sean Strickland.
“He’s pretending to be everything he wishes I was,” Covington said (thanks to MMA Fighting for the quotes). “I’d love to slap Sean Strickland around. He’s just a pathetic excuse of a human being. The guy has literally no fricking IQ.
“The guy’s so (expletive) stupid. The things he says, he needs to get his mouth wired shut and I’m the guy to do it. The UFC knows I’m the one that can end these guys that hate the company and they hate the world, so I would love to fight Sean Strickland.”
Strickland has his own title defense set, as he will headline UFC 297 against Dricus Du Plessis.
Colby Covington Seeks First Championship
Technically, Covington held the interim title for a short period of time after defeating Rafael dos Anjos back in 2018, but he was stripped due to an injury. He had a shot at the belt in 2019 against Kamaru Usman, but lost via TKO.
He picked up a decision vs. Jorge Masvidal in 2022 and has not fought since, sitting at 17-3 overall with eight finishes in his career.
With a win, Covington would join his former Iowa Central Community College wrestling teammates Jon Jones and Cain Velasquez as ex-Tritons to capture UFC gold. Another former Iowa Central wrestler, Joe Soto, was a Bellator champion and challenged for the UFC title.
