MMA Fighting - Colby Covington Eyes August Title Fight With Leon Edwards, Future Bouts With Adesanya and Makhachev

Episode Date: May 10, 2023

UFC welterweight contender Colby Covington joins MMA Fighting's Mike Heck to discuss the latest on his upcoming title fight with Leon Edwards, eyeing August, why having the bout in Abu Dhabi doesn't make sense to him, having dinner with Dana White recently, Jorge Masvidal's retirement, Belal Muhammad's UFC 288 win over Gilbert Burns, wanting future fights with current lightweight champ Islam Makhachev and Israel Adesanya, what advice he would give to Aljamain Sterling following his win over Henry Cejudo, and more.  Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original blockbuster, the downloaded.

It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. Available now, only from Audible. All right, let us say hello once again to Colby Chaos Covington.

His name was in the mix throughout this past week with UFC 288 going down in Newark, with the co-main event being what it was. So I figured, let's check in with Colby Covington and get his thoughts on what currently going down in the UFC's Walterweight division. Colby, how are you, man? I'm doing great. I am

the Walterweight division. You're talking to the current undisputed, undefeated, king of fucking Miami. Donald Trump's favorite fighter, the baddest motherfucker on the planet right now and the biggest straw by far. It's definitely the best looking because you see these other scrubs. They look like shit. So, yeah, I am the Welterweight Division. Let's talk to Walterweight Division. All right, well, a lot has

happened since we spoke a couple of months ago. Dana White continues to double down, triple down, quadruple, down that you are next for Leon Edwards and the Welterweight title. You were hoping July International Fight Week, maybe sharing the stage at a press conference with John Jones, but it doesn't look like that's happening now, but you said, you know what? They want to do June, July, August, whenever works for me. And Leon has since come out and said September, maybe October. So from your perspective, what's the latest on this fight right now?

Whenever, wherever, we stay ready. We never got to get ready. So it doesn't matter when it's going to be. It will be. It's 100% going to happen. I don't know how many times the MMA media dorks need to hear it. Dana's triple, quadruple down. I don't know why they keep asking him. Like, he's going to change his answer.

He knows what's best for business, and this fight's going to get done. Hopefully as soon as possible. I'm hoping August, that's my hope. You know, he turned down July and a home date in London, which is sad because, you know, the people of London are great, passionate fans, and they deserve a big homecoming show, a pay-per-view.

I mean, they got a fight night, and that's going to be a good show still. but why not give him a welterweight undisputed, a welterweight title fight? Leon robbed into that. So, you know, Leon doesn't even like his people. He hates his people in London and the UK.

And it's sad because those people are great people and some of the most diehard fans I've ever witnessed in my life in my career going into an arena. So, you know, it sucks. But, you know, now it's got to be on U.S. soil. Now he's got to come here like Cornwallis and surrender, just like at Yorktown. So July 22nd, there was obviously those reports that this is what the UFC was kind of

hoping would emerge you and Leon fighting on that London card. So were you actually approached with that date and that card in particular? Yeah, I was approached with that date. You know, me and Dana sat down. We had dinner in Miami when the Miami show was going on. And we talked about how he was going to change it from an ESPN fight night to a pay-per-view because he wanted to do right by the fans of London. I mean, those people in the O2 Arena are so passionate, such good, fun, loving fans.

You know, they're just, they make the, I mean, they make the, I mean, make the environment just that much better and just, you know, that's so he wanted to, you know, make good on that. He wanted to bring them a good show, a pay-per-view headline or,

you know, a title fight instead of just a fight night. And, you know, there's only one person to blame because they wanted it. I wanted it. I was begging for it to go to enemy, enemy territory and bring the wrath of 1776 again, you know,

but there's only one person that didn't want it. Low IQ Leon. So you're saying hopefully August would be a nice time frame. Looks like they're going to Boston, August 19th. That seems to be the, the targeted city, the targeted date for that pay-per-view card. And Leon mentioned maybe let's go to Abu Dhabi.

Maybe when they go back in October, that's a potential landing spot for this fight. How does that idea suit you? No, Abu Dhabi doesn't make sense. You know, like there's other fighters that are going to fill up that card, you know, that are from around that region of the world. So, you know, they have other great fighters over there. You know, the Dagestanis, they're going to occupy that card. And it doesn't make sense for him to fight there.

So he doesn't get to call. the shots. He's not the boss at the UFC. You know, that's Dana's job and leave the big business to him. There's a reason no one cares about Leon. He doesn't draw the needle. He doesn't move the needle because the shit like this. What are you doing, Delane? Why do you want Abu Dhabi

like seven, eight months later? Like, come out in your defense, prove that you're the best if you think you're the best, and let's get this going. But, you know, Abu Dhabi doesn't make sense. Now he's got to come to American Swel and surrender. Well, if they do John Jones-Stepe at Madison Square Garden in November, that might not be a bad time to

have you and Leon fight, right? You can still get what you want. You get to do it in the Mecca again. But do you want to wait that long? I mean, of course I don't want to wait that long. You know, I've been ready for the last year. You know, I've been begging to fight someone. All these guys are ducking me. Comes out, you know, come shot dog face looking motherfucker, ran away from my division because he was so scared to me. You know, now I got Leon playing the running game, just like come shot. So, you know, of course I don't want to wait there, but I'm going to do what's best for business because I'm a company man. I love my company. I love the U.S.

see they're dear to my heart. They've changed my life. They've given me the American dream that, you know, I never thought I would have coming from a small town in Springfield, Oregon like I came from. So for them to give that to me, you know, I'm going to always do what's best for them and what's the best business for the UFC. So whenever they want to get it going, you know, I think they're going to start putting pressure on Leon, like, yo, you don't get to sit out and call these shots.

You either come defend the title or we just strip you and it's the next man in lines. So there's plenty of other big fights that can be made. You know, you have, you know, the Rocky 4, Me versus Machachub, champ versus champ, you know, that fight sells, you know, Conner's always there and available, you know, the, the Uzman trilogy. There's a lot of great fights out there. So if he sits too long, he's going to get strips. You think, how, how close do you think the UFC is to actually putting a fight like

you and Mokachev together, like a champion versus champion fight? Because, I mean, he did fight Volcanowski. It was a great fight. Really, really, I enjoyed that very much. It's one of the most, you know, controversial yet highly discussed fights of the year. But Volkanowski is the featherweight champion right now. and technically Mokachev has not defended his title against anybody in his division as of right now. So how close do you think that is to the UFC being like, you know what?

Let's just say you win the title in your next fight. How close of a reality do you think that is that you would fight Mokachev champion versus champion? I think it's a very realistic possibility, Mike. You know, there was conversations backstage in the past that we've had about that. You know, and if I could make 155, because I'm not a big 170, I don't cut much weight. 15 pounds, you know, 20 pounds max, you know, if I'm just completely eating as much as I can, stuff in my face. So, you know, I know we probably walk around around the same weight. You know, he's just a weight bully. He's cutting all that weight to get the advantage of

lightweight because there's no wrestlers. There's no guys that can give him any trouble. So, of course, he wants to be in that division. You know, the same division his daddy, Khabi used to own. So, you know, there's a reason Kabe never came to 170 and fought Wolterweights because King Colby's here and he knows all stuff is wrestling and punch him in the face until he quits. You mentioned that you had dinner with Dana White when the UFC was in Miami. That was a month ago as we speak. And Israel-A-Sania fought Alex Pereira.

And in the coal main event, we had Gilbert Burns versus Jorge Mazadol. And we had this is the fight everybody seemed to be focused on. Once you were announced as the next contender, they're like, well, what if Mazadol beats Gilbert Burns, then we can have that rivalry sort of play out the three-piece in the soda and do it that way. And Burns gets the win and Mazadol goes on to retire. What was your reaction to that? Because I didn't feel like you needed like a sigh of relief once Mazadal lost because Dana kept saying like, look, I don't care what happens on this card.

Colby's fighting for the belt anyways. Mazadol wins or not. Colby's still getting the shot. So what was your reaction once that fight ended and how things played out there? Not surprised. You know, I retired Jorge Monsidaw Street, Judas and Teen Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada in March of 2022. too. So he hasn't been the same fighter. You can tell, you know, obviously with what he did to me and attacked me and sucker punched me in the streets and stalked me and hit me from behind because

he's a coward. So, you know, he was done then. His ego was gone, you know, his career was gone. He knew it was over. So he's doing something stupid, you know, being a felon committing, felonies and breaking the law. So, you know, he hasn't been the same. You could tell his body posture, you know, he gave everything when he fought me. He came with everything. You know, you could tell he still had the six-pack. He was definitely doing some steroids because I used to watch him inject EPO in his ass. But he was definitely on something. He was because he knew I was the last big main event pay-per-viewed fight.

He saw what happened. He got the 50-44-and-a-old, and he was done. He was retired. He literally just showed up for the Gilbert fight for a paycheck. Gilbert's a nice guy. You know, he's a family man. So, you know, everybody's got respect for Gilbert, and there's no reason you can't respect that family man.

Yeah, and Gilbert, have been surprised? Like, Gilbert's kind of putting you over. It's been pretty cool. He's like, Colby's playing it smart. Colby's doing this right, he's doing this right, and he hasn't said anything negative about you at all since beating Jorge Mazadol, which I thought was pretty interesting. Usually guys are trying to get that fight with you and they're trying to sort of take pot shots at you and Gilbert's gone the completely different direction. Yeah, you know, because he appreciates my body at work, Mike, you know, look at my resume speaks for itself. If you look at the time, all my fights happened, what the rankings of these guys were top three guys in the world future.

first ballot Hall of Famers, you know, champion, challenger, champion, champion, you know, everybody respects what I've done, you know, some people, all the haters can jockey for position, you know, but at the end of the day, all my haters, they're just in denial. And you know what's weird, Mike? Is I thought denial was just a river in Egypt. Well, speaking of Gilbert Burns, he just fought this past Saturday against Bilal Muhammad, big fight, came together real quick. I was again, like, I thought this was the actual matchup to make for the division.

I hated the timing on it. There was no need to rush this fight into existence, in my opinion, especially with you and Leon, not even like officially announced yet for a date. I just felt like rushing this in on three and a half week to notice or two and a half weeks to notice just didn't make any sense. But in the end, if it happens, the law steps in, gets it done, one-sided fight, the law defeats Gilbert Burns. And now apparently he's going to be next in line to face the winner of you and Leon

Edward. So did you watch the fight? And if so, what was your reaction? What did you think of Blah Mahamma's performance? Dude, you think I'm going to watch those fights? There was nothing hyped up or interesting about that fight or any fight, really. You know, I never watched fights as it is anyways. But, you know, I've got bigger business to attend to and to worry about than we're at

watch, you know, the pre-lim gatekeepers in my high division. So, you know, I think it's funny that those guys rushed out to have a quick training camp and turn around into that co-made eventball. Like, the UFC, dude, Mike, do you realize this? The UFC didn't pressure those guys. Like, yo, we need you as the co-man. No, dude, that was a co-man event that was supposed to be at lightweight. So it's not like they pressured those guys.

Oh, you know, you got to save the day and well to wait. Like, you're going to move the needle because those guys don't move the needle. The only needles that Belaw is moving, you know, Bill Lyle is moving the racist is the needle he puts in his ass with all that growth hormone is taken. It's obvious as day. But that's another point in itself. But the reason, it's just funny that they showed up on short notice. Do you realize the, the guy.

that really won that night in between that fight was the manager because he got paychecks on both sides. You know, he sent his fighters out to this short notice fight with nothing in return. It's not like they were getting a town. I mean, yeah, they're saying their tie shot, but after me, the only thing that's set in stone, Mike, and guaranteed is that I'm fighting for the undisputed world title on my next fight. There's no guarantee that they're fighting for the world title on their next fight. So they're going to have to, you know, he's going to have to show more activity. He's going to have to win some high-level fight, some main event fights. Go main event is still low level. You're not ready for the pressure.

the spotlight of carrying a card and the things you have to do, you know, for media to main event of fight. So, you know, I just, it's funny, man, like Bill Lowe the racist, because he's clearly racist. He said that I just, I got my title shot because the color of my skin is white. The fact that he had that, the hate in his heart to press send, and that just shows how he really feels. Like, he's a racist. You can't just say that someone deserves someone off the basis of the color of skin. That's despicable. It's gross. And that's, there's no need for that in in MMA in general. So Bill Lyle, the racist, has no room to talk. But, you know, that's not the conversation. The conversation is Ali Abdelisle's. He's, you know, he has all these fighters. He's

putting them everywhere and he's just making promises, oh, yeah, there's going to be a title shot on the line for this fight. No. Why did Gilbert have to fight three fights in five months? Why do he rush him out there like that? The guy just cut 100 pounds in literally three training camps. But literally, if you think about it, probably 20, 30 pounds a fight, you know, and he had to do three back-to-back training camps. So I feel for Gilbert. man, he's a family man, and he got done dirty. You know, he could have stayed in his position and potentially been the backup for me and Leon, but, you know, now all the marbles have felt and, you know, he's out of the equation.

It's sad to see, man. He got sold to pipe dream by Ali Abdulis. Dana said in the build and then sort of coming out of the fight that Bala is getting the title shot next. 100% is what he keeps saying. When he's asked is 100% and you being in this position yourself where Dana continuously is asked about these types of situations and he's saying 100%, Colby's next 100% Colby's next. Do you take Dana at his word with this situation that Bilal Muhammad will fight the winner

of you in Leon Edwards next? Or do you feel like you're going to be fighting somebody else if you win that title? There's always a lot of truth and honestly to everything Dana says. So I definitely take him out his word for what he says. But we know how the division changes and things change. It's all timing in this sport, Mike. So the timing's not right for him. You know, I'm guaranteed set in stone.

I'm fighting for the undisputed world title in my next fight. So that's the only thing set in stone that I'm fighting for the title. So what's he going to do? Is he going to wait around for, you know, a year to wait for my title defense? No, you know, he's going to need to fight and to prove that he can sell and move the needle in his company. There's nothing interesting. There's no charisma about Bill Lyle, the racist. All there is about him is he's racist and should be canceled.

He shouldn't even be allowed to speak and have a platform. If you're going to see you hate and racism and divide in this country, that's not what we need in America right now. We need to come together. We need unity. and we need more quality. So it's sad that Bill Lyle had to go to the racist route and call me just deserving just because of the color of my skin. I think he's in a pretty good spot right now personally,

but I do think you make a point that the timing could be tough. And that's why I hated this fight to begin with happening on this past card because there's just so much time in between now and when you fight for the belt and all the things that could happen in between and after. Because once this ultimate fighter season drops from everything that I've heard, it is going to be electric

between Connor McGregor and Michael Chandler. The build to that fight is going to be incredible. And if Connor and Chandler fight sometime in the neighborhood of when you fight Leon, if Connor wins that fight, there is no way he's not getting a title shot. Just no way after all that, right?

So like, you might have a point here, especially if Connor wins, right? Like, if Connor wins, he's getting that title shot. This company's about money. this company is about paper my brother if you don't bring paper to the table if you don't draw a fucking business in this company they're not gonna they're not gonna hire you they don't need you so you know the ufc's about doing the biggest and best business and making money this is a business so we need to make money so you know it's not anybody else's fault but the man in the

mirror the reason he doesn't sell and no one cares about him he's not interesting and he just you know he makes fake claims and he says this and that and it's just like dude you're beating a bunch of prelim guys. You're beating guys that aren't even in the UFC no more. Like, there's nothing special to what he's done. And there's a reason that fans don't care about him, man. He's just, he's just, he's a racist and, you know, he's uninteresting. Do you feel that at some point over the next year to 18 months, Belal Muhammad will fight for the title? Or do you think he's just never going to fight for the title? You know, I have no idea about Bill Lala, the racist career in his trajectory. You know,

if he keeps saying racist things, I just don't know how much longer he'll be in the company, Mike. So he'll need to make a formal apology for that to ever really get a title shot. But he hasn't walked that bad. He's not, he's not sorry about it. You know, it's sad. I was hoping I was going to see some sincerity out of him. But, you know, he's nothing more than the racist and a piece of shit. And he's not fighting for a title anytime soon.

Only King Kobe is Donald Trump's favorite fighter, the King of Miami, the People's Champ, America's champ. I wanted to ask you about this. I know you didn't watch it, but I'm sure you saw things that were going on. But the main event this past Saturday, Al Jermaine Sterling beats Henry Sehudo. So Huda comes back after a three-year layoff. Sterling gets the job done.

I scored a 48-47 for Al-Germaine Sterling. And he has just been in the middle of one of the weirdest title runs of all time because he takes the knee from Piotr-Yon, wins the title via disqualification. Then he beats Yon in the rematch. The Dillishaw fight was really weird because Dillishaw had the shoulder injury. And then Sehudo after the three-year layoff. And I just feel like Al-Jo will never get the credit he deserves in a lot of ways. And you've kind of been in that situation yourself.

You're a guy who's had to talk a lot. You've had to hold signs outside to get fights that you wanted. And it just felt like on the way up, you never got the credit you deserve. And there's a chance. And there's probably some of that floating around now because Dana's saying, you're the guy to get the title shot. And everyone's saying, well, this dude hasn't fought in so long. And he hasn't beat, you know, whatever they keep on saying.

So with Aljo, what advice would you have for somebody like that? Long as raining, first fighter in Bannonweight history to defend his title three times in a row. He's got all these different records, but still isn't getting the credit he deserves. What would you say if Al Jemay and Sterling called you right now and said, dude, like, what is up here? Why can I not get the respect that I deserve

and get put in the same categories as some of these other fighters in the sport right now? Yeah, you know, I just tell all, just keep being you, you know, and due time, you know, people have no choice but to respect you. When you keep proving them wrong, and just keep silencing them. That's the best revenge.

You know, success is the best revenge. So, you know, he's just got to keep doing his thing. He's doing great things in the business and the company, you know. You know, he's done making history in that division, the band-of-weight division. So, you know, I think he's doing just fine, Mike, and he's not really too worried about the haters right now. I think he's worried about, you know, how his bank account looks. And what about Henry's Tehudo? Says he might not fight again.

Now he's saying Marabreira, Maraulis, really, let's go fight. What did you think of him coming back? You know, you're a wrestler, obviously. Henry's an Olympic medalist wrestler, him coming back, coming up a little bit short against Al Jermaine Sterling. What if he called you right now? What would you say to him? I wouldn't answer the call, man.

He's, he's, uh, dude, the guy's just too safe. Hey, what I'm coaching? Good to see, bro. Yeah, I wouldn't, I wouldn't answer. I wouldn't give him advice because, you know, he's already tried to copy and mimic me so much and watch my every move. And, you know, I make a sandwich this certain way.

He's going to try and make the sandwich the same way. You know, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Fair enough. And one more thing I wanted to ask you about. We've had conversations about a guy who used to be in your division. Mike Perry, Mike Perry, now has transitioned to the bare knuckle world. And he, it just seems like this is the thing for him. It seems like his personality has changed a little bit.

He's becoming a star over there. He's becoming almost the face of Bear Duckle. Mike Perry. Who? Hey, good to see, honey. My brother. Who? Mike Perry.

I never heard of him. He's never heard of Mike Barry? He used to. Oh, he used to. Why is he not there anymore? I don't know. You don't know? It wasn't because he's a loser?

Or was it because did he get his nose busted in multiple times and knocked out and tapped out and beat up in every which way? But now he's turned the corner in a different way. I don't know if you've been paid attention. I was fighting on the Indian reservation. Mike, we came to talk about the biggest and best business, the UFC, the best organization in the entire world.

We didn't come to talk about jobbers. We didn't come to talk about guys who don't even have, you know, paychecks anymore in the biggest and best organization. We came to talk big business, Mike. So come on. Ask me a real question. All right. Israel Adasania, the middleweight champion of the world right now,

gets the win over Alex Pereira. One of the last, I think actually the time before the, after you were the backup fighter, the time, it would have been a year since we had spoken. And we had talked about you and Israel, Adasana. We were talking about you and Adasania as a possible fight because the great Shale Sunan put that out as an idea.

That was like you thought to yourself, ooh, this is actually pretty good. But is that something you're still eyeing at some point? Like, let's go up to 185 and fight Adasania because you feel like at some point he's going to move up to 205 and try to slay that dragon. But do you feel like you and Otisana could get some business done before he does

make that move? Absolutely. I think that's a huge fight. You know, and it's a fight of high magnitude. So, I like the matchup to be honest. I just, I don't think he can hang with me. I think I take him down. I beat him from pillar to post and I just break him inside that octagon. He can't hang with the cardio king. And I've been doing extra in the cardio to get my bedroom cardio right. So, you know, he's not ready for raw America steel and twisted sex appeal. So, you know, I would love that fight.

Champion versus champion versus wherever he's from, New Zealand or whatever. And, you know, let's get this going. But, you know, I don't think he wants to fight a high level of wrestler like me, someone that can just keep up and be in his face a whole entire time, pressure him. I'm not just going to shoot one takedown. I'm going to shoot 5,000 takedowns and be in your face and break you. So, you know, I would love that fight. You know, if that's what UFC wants to do, I'm here. I'm a company man.

I'm a business man. So I care about the company and whatever the company wants to do. I want to do the biggest and best company, biggest and best business for the company, the UFC, greatest organization in the world. Well, we appreciate your time as always, Colby. It looks like you're at the gym, so I don't want to take up any more of your time. You're always, uh,

I'm over, I'm out here, uh, showing support to the local community football players. Oh, damn, okay. Hey,

what's up, coach? That's right. We're bringing that fucking belt. That's awesome. You got to try, look at this. Look at this.

Say hi. Hey, how you doing coach? Coach, how are you? I'm doing great. Yeah, he's always out here supporting us,

man. It's been a blessed. We're the chaos crew. You know what I mean? West Broward Bobcast, what's up? Hey, what's up, West Broward? That's wild. Very cool.

Thank you very much. All the best to you. And all the best to you, Colby. I appreciate the time. This is very, very cool. This is very, very cool. Absolutely, man. I appreciate you the time, too.

And thanks for showing some spotlight on the local community, High School, West Broward. And let's go, Bobcats. They're going to have a good football year this year. And God bless everybody in America. Take care. God bless.