Colby Covington may have his sights set on the UFC welterweight title currently held by Leon Edwards, but it seems he already has someone else in his crosshairs for 2024.
Covington is looking to convert his third shot at the undisputed 170-pound title into a championship reign at welterweight, but regardless of the outcome of his main event bout with Edwards at UFC 296, he wants to share the Octagon with the current king of the division above.
Sean Strickland holds the undisputed middleweight title, and appears to have upset Covington with some of his recent utterings. So much so, that Covington wants to move up to middleweight and shut the Las Vegas native's mouth personally.
"He’s pretending to be everything he wishes I was," Covington told Code Sports.
"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 f*****g 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."
It's unclear exactly what Strickland has done to irk Covington, but it seems "Chaos" is keen for a future faceoff with Strickland. While that matchup may appeal to Covington, he shut down some other suggestions for fights at 185 pounds.
"No, that ship has sailed," he said of a potential fight with former champ Robert Whittaker.
"Robert, he lost the title and then he got beat in a contender fight, so he’s just not relevant anymore, he doesn’t make sense for me. I’m the top of the division, I’m about to be welterweight champion of the world, so I only want the biggest and best fights the UFC has to offer, and I know they wouldn’t even waste my time and waste their time to try and put that fight together.
"This is a business and they want to make money, so it’s all about making the biggest and best fights for the fans and for the UFC. Whatever the UFC says, they know I’m a yes man, I’m a company man, whatever they say, Colby Covington will agree on."
