Colby Covington is not going anywhere in spite of failing to snatch the welterweight title again. According to “Chaos,” moving to another weight class where a fighter would feel big is considered “cheating,” adding he wants to face everyone in his division and prove he’s “the best in the world.”
Covington failed to get the belt from Leon Edwards last Saturday in spite of hot threats to the champ prior to the bout. With this, the American received a boatload of criticism from the MMA community, but the fighter seems unaffected by any of it. After the fight, where he cussed critics, the challenger even bragged about feeling great, saying he’ll be back “stronger” in 2024.
“I feel great. I didn’t feel like I got touched,” Covington said. “It was an easy fight. I don’t have a scratch on me. I’d like to get back to work the early part of next year. I’m only going to learn from this. I’m going to go back to the drawing board. I’ve been out of the octagon for two years, people been ducking me, fights fell through, Leon didn’t want to fight in his home country of UK, so I’ve been ready to fight anytime, anywhere, anyone.
“I will come back stronger. I’m 35 years young. I didn’t take any damage this fight. This is the easiest fight of my life. I thought I won the fight. It’s all perspective. I will come back stronger. You’re all a bunch of broke b***** anyways, f*** you.”
According to Covington, not only is he coming back next year, but he’s also staying in the same division. During the post-fight press conference of the event, Covington addressed the talks about him possibly moving to the lightweight due to his three failed attempts for the welterweight title. As the fighter stressed, such a move is cheating and opposes his goal of becoming “the new generation of fighter.”
“I don’t want to be a weight bully. That’s everything I stand against. I’m trying to be the new generation of fighter that just fights at his natural weight,” Covington said. “I don’t wanna cut weight. I just wanna feel good when I fight, you know, and not have to get that big advantage. I feel like cutting that kind of weight is legal cheating. I don’t want to be a cheater… It’s (lightweight) not something I’m interested in.”
Ultimately, Covington shared his goal of fighting everyone at welterweight and reaching the top. However, after missing his chance to get the belt from Kamaru Usman at UFC 245 and UFC 268 and Edwards last weekend, getting another title shot is unlikely to happen again for the 35-year-old.
