Morning Report: Colby Covington claims Islam Makhachev 'scared to fight real men like me'

25/09/2023 13:00

Colby Covington is laying the tracks for his potential UFC welterweight title reign.

The man known as "Chaos" is finally getting back in action at the end of this year. UFC 296 had its main event announced this past week and on Dec. 16 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, it will be the reigning champion Leon Edwards defending against Covington.

Covington, 35, has been sidelined since his unanimous decision nod over Jorge Masvidal at UFC 272 in March 2022. The pair of former best friends and teammates turned bitter rivals' hatred spilled outside of the octagon that same month after their fight. Masvidal allegedly assaulted Covington at a Miami steakhouse, resulting in an ongoing lawsuit. Despite Covington claiming he suffered brain damage in the altercation, he's now good enough to get back in action. In the meantime, a new champion was crowned at lightweight in October 2022 and Covington sees the dominant Dagestani as a good possible first challenger should he dethrone Edwards.

"There's that little mongoloid, he's been talking a little bit, saying that he wants to come up and fight in a real man's division," Covington told James Lynch. "He's in a little boy's weight class and I'm talking about Islam Makhachev. He's fighting in a little man's weight class. He's fighting little midgets and he's barely beating midgets. Split decisions, split draws, pathetic.

"That little mongoloid's been talking, he's been saying some things about how he wants to come up to a real man's division and face a real man in America's champ. So, that might present itself as well. I think that's a big superfight and I think that's a fight the fans want to see. We're the same weight class. He probably weighs more than me, honestly. He probably walks around 190. He's pretty yoked up. He's a big-little guy that cuts all that weight to get the advantage 'cause he's scared to fight real men like me."

Makhachev captured UFC gold at UFC 280 with a second-round arm-triangle over Charles Oliveira, leading the near-perfect 24-1 title holder to a champion vs. champion collision for his first title defense. Makhachev defended against featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284. While more competitive than any of Makhachev's previous fights, he still came out on top, fending off Volkanovski via a unanimous decision.

Covington wasn't too impressed, however. Reflecting on Makhachev's lone defeat to Adriano Martins in October 2015, Covington revealed how he helped the Brazilian with his camp. Makhachev has expressed interest in eventually moving up in weight and specifically mentioned the idea of facing Edwards. If Covington gets the job done at UFC 296, lightweight's finest may have a larger incentive to make the transition sooner rather than later. That's assuming he once again gets by Oliveira at UFC 294 next month.

"I trained the guy that knocked him out in the first round," Covington said. "A guy in Adriano Martins, I trained the kid, southpaw to southpaw to get ready for Makhachev because they knew he was a wrestler-southpaw when I was at that gym. I trained Adriano to throw that exact hook and knock him out like that and put him unconscious.

"Dude, there's a lot of holes in his game. He's talked a big game. He's tried to ride the coattails of Khabib [Nurmagomedov's] success and what he was able to accomplish and he's not Khabib. It's not the same thing. Khabib was scared of me. He didn't want to come up to welterweight because of me. So, even his daddy knows it's not smart to come up to welterweight."

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VIDEO STEW

UFC Vegas 79 Post-Show.

Bellator 299's finishes.

Full fight.

PFL Paris Preview Show.

Gomes shuts things down.

Borz Fight Camp.

Explaining the UFC Anti-Trust Lawsuit.

A Holloway vacay.

Armbars.

Arnold in Chinatown.

Daddy CCC.

Karate vs. Muay Thai.

MORNING MUSIC

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Khamzat.

Bullet.

Athletic.

Upset.

Damn.

Hammer time.

Amazing.

Big bang, indeed.

Fashion.

Champ.

Successful return.

Sheeeeeesh.

Street beefs.

Speed.

Smashing.

Resilience.

Jokes.

Rematch?

Still got it.

Aftermath.

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Shinobu Ota (4-2) vs. Shoko Sato (34-15-2); RIZIN Landmark 6, Oct. 1

Montana De La Rosa (12-8-1) vs. JJ Aldrich (12-6);UFC Vegas 80, Oct. 7

Matt Frevola (11-3-1) vs. Benoît Saint-Denis (12-1);UFC 295, Nov. 11

Jake Matthews (19-6) vs. Michael Morales (15-0);UFC Vegas 82, Nov. 18

Uroš Medić (9-1) vs. Jonny Parsons (9-3); UFC Vegas 82, Nov. 18

Jared Cannonier (17-6) vs. Roman Dolidze (12-2); UFC Fight Night, Dec. 2

Rob Font (20-7) vs. Deiveson Figueiredo (21-3-1); UFC Fight Night, Dec. 2

Khalil Rountree Jr. (12-5) vs. Azamat Murzakanov (13-0); UFC Fight Night, Dec. 2

Clay Guida (38-23) vs. Joaquim Silva (12-4); UFC Fight Night Dec. 2

Sean Brady (15-1) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (18-8, 1 NC); UFC Fight Night, Dec. 2

Shavkat Rakhmonov (17-0) vs. Stephen Thompson (17-6-1); UFC 296, Dec. 16

Tony Ferguson (25-9) vs. Paddy Pimblett (20-3); UFC 296, Dec. 16

Tagir Ulanbekov (14-2) vs. Cody Durden (16-4-1), UFC 296, Dec. 16

Vicente Luque (22-9-1) vs. Ian Machado Garry (13-0); UFC 296, Dec. 16

Andrei Arlovski (34-22, 2 NC) vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta (10-1); UFC Vegas 83, Jan. 13

FINAL THOUGHTS

Covington as champion would be an absolute nightmare for the purists and meritocracy of the division. Would it be good for the UFC though? Probably.

Thanks for reading!

POLL POSITION

Last Week's Results:

Friday: 46% of 505 total votes answered "Jiri Prochazka vs. Alex Pereira" when asked, "Which fight will be the most competitive of the three?"

Thursday: 73% of 593 total votes answered "Jiri Prochazka vs. Alex Pereira" when asked, "Which newly announced title fight are you most looking forward to?"

Wednesday: 66% of 435 total votes answered "Yes" when asked, "Will we ever see Sean O'Malley fight at featherweight?"

Tuesday: 37% of 370 total votes answered "Rafael Fiziev and Bryce Mitchell" when asked, "Who wins this weekend?" Mateusz Gamrot defeated Fiziev via a second-round TKO in the UFC Vegas 79 main event and Mitchell defeated Dan Ige via unanimous decision in the co-main event.

Monday: 65% of 364 total votes answered "Valentina Shevchenko" when asked, "Who did you score Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko 2 in favor of?" Grasso and Shevchenko fought to a split draw in the Noche UFC main event.

Today's exit poll:

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