MMA Fighting - Colby Covington Would 'Beat Up' Jorge Masvidal Again, Likes Idea Of Fight With Israel Adesanya

Episode Date: March 20, 2022

Colby Covington says he would fight Jorge Masvidal again, but he doesn't suggest it for his welterweight foe. Covington discusses the fallout of his win over Masvidal at UFC 272, the fight week build, his callout of Dustin Poirier, Chael Sonnen's suggestion that he should fight Israel Adesanya for the UFC middleweight title, the death of wrestler Scott Hall, and more with MMA Fighting's Mike Heck.  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 reprise 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. To the Vox Media Podcast Network. All right, let us say hello once again to Colby Chaos Covington, a little less than two weeks removed from his unanimous decision win over Jorge Mazvedal at UFC 272.

Look at this bling, look at this setup, unbelievable. Bolby, welcome back. How are you, my man? I'm doing great. How can I not be good? I'm living the American dream, Mike. So I'm thankful to everything that I have. And the reason I have it, the people that, you know, fought for our freedoms, the military first responders and all the good people out there. So God bless you all. What are we in here? Like, where do we get these chains and this, this chaos thing right there?

I mean, look at that thing. Like, where do we get this stuff? Yeah, the inspiration behind a lot of this was the media, man. They were talking shit about me. So I wanted to show them that, you know, I could buy a house and I have more on my neck on my neck than they have in their house. So, you know, I had to, I had to start out on these haters, all these, all these John Morgans out there that can't even do 10 pushups. So, you know, I had to let them know that, you know, you could talk shit and say I'm undeserving, but what the fuck are you deserving of? Well, let's, I mean, there's so much to talk to you about right now. let's just talk about what happened with this whole setup in the fight week in particular because you and I have been talking for a while.

You've wanted this fight for a while. You've called for it many, many, many times. And it finally happened. And then we see the storytelling, the friends to enemy storyline, the build to it, the promos, all of it. And it all culminated over those 25 minutes. What was the build like for you? Because I know you don't do a lot of media these days unless it's fight week or maybe like a few select chats after these fights. but how would you personally describe the build to this fight? Were you happy with it or are you kind of over it by the middle of fight week? I loved it. I loved being a UFC fighter and do a big business for Hunter Campbell and Dana White.

Got a lot of respect for those guys and what they allowed me to have opportunities for. So it was awesome. You know, the Stephen A. Smith buildup was hilarious going on his show. Just hearing how he did and mad George was because he knew he couldn't stop me. So he was just going to act like a little kid. and not try to let me talk because he knows I'll make him look stupid if we're doing talking because the guy's uneducated. He didn't graduate middle school, Mike. So how is he going to be able to compete with, you know, an all-American D-1 stud who got a college degree? You know,

I'll run laps around him. So the build-up was amazing. The UFC did a great job. They put it on all their channels. They put it everywhere. And, you know, they put the whole thing for us, you know, they put the platform dedicated to that fight and building this. So it got a lot of run. And I'm thankful that I won another title. of Miami title. That's a legit title. I'm getting coordinated this weekend in Miami, and that will be a thing going forward. You know, I'm the king of Miami. So it was a great build, and it was fun. You know, there was no pressure on me. I knew what I'm capable of and how good I am. So it was just another easy night in the office. What do you mean you getting coordinated

in Miami this weekend? What's happening? Yeah, I'm getting my, you know, I'm getting my throne. I'm getting my king of Miami title. You know, we're going to have a little celebration. There's going to be some Mamasita, some other things. So everybody's got to stay tuned because I promise you the unveiling of this is going to be absolutely comical and just pure entertainment. Wow, that's great. All right. So stay tuned for that.

I thought the promo video that actually aired a week before the card actually happened was really well done. I thought it was one of the best promo videos the UFC had put together in my opinion. I thought they did a great job with that. And you mentioned the Stephen A interview. So kind of fast forwarding to the press conference because that was one of those things where, there is no gray area. You thought it was the best press conference ever and it was perfect for the fight or you thought it was just awful and it was a tough watch and it was just really tough to deal with.

Did you enjoy it like the face off the bells and whistles? Like did you enjoy that part of it? Because it was it kind of reminded me of the Stephen A interview in some ways, but it was just kind of different and kind of got off track a bunch of times. It was amazing. I had so much fun with it. You know, it's always fun when you can just be honest to the world. Like the world, there's no platform to expose people and say facts. And I'm just, I'm so happy that the UFC gives me such a big platform to speak, you know, from the heart and speak facts. You know, it's not, I didn't say any lies, Mike. I said honest truth. And sometimes it's brutally honest and it hurts.

But, you know what? Facts don't care about your feelings. So I'm going to talk about facts and I don't care about people's feelings. And, you know, I can see how mad he was because he knew he couldn't do anything about it. But, you know, at least he tried. You know, he came out and actually tried, but he knew he couldn't do anything about it. So he was just pouting like a little kid and trying to interrupt me and not let me talk and get my point across. So let's get into the day before the fight and heading into fight day because I'll be honest, when you are in the field that I am in, you hear things.

And some you believe wholeheartedly and you dig for the truth. You see, you smell the roses, if you will. And others, they're more like rumblings and you just don't know and you wonder how you kind of approach hearing this information. but I heard rumblings on Friday night about the knee, Colby. I had heard there was a knee injury, and I'll admit, I was watching the walkout closely, I was watching the leg kicks closely from Azadol early on. It looks like maybe they were having an impact,

but I heard there might be something, and then you're asked at the post-fight press conference, and you said that you leaked this information out there as kind of a loyalty test of sorts, and apparently this person failed. So when did you plant that seed, and when did you know that you're, plan was executed and someone kind of went behind your back and did what you thought they might do.

Yeah, Mike, about two and a half weeks before the fight, I was doing one of the medicals that we had to do to get clear to fight. I think it was like the eye exam or they had to come take some blood or something like that. And I just, I knew that Georgia went through this place before, this, this wellness center. So, um, I knew that this guy was kind of splitting in between and he had some loyalty to this guy, you know? So I gave this guy some information to see if it would get back to them and it did. So, you know, I think mission accomplished. It served its purpose for what it meant to do. But people don't give me credit for setting traps on these rats. But, you know, I'm catching all these rats and exposing them. That's a brilliant. It was a brilliant move when I

heard you say it. So there was no knee injury at all? This is all a big work. It's all a big work. didn't have no knee injury. I was completely healthy. I mean, none of those late kicks did any damage that was weak. I let that fight without a scratch. So, you know, I just, I played a game of chess. All these guys are playing checkers, Mike. We're playing chess.

Brilliant move right there, I got to say. So let's talk about the fight itself because, you know, like we said, the leg kicks are happening. The fight is getting going. And then the accidental eye poke happens. And Mazadol is telling Herb Dean about said eye poke. Herb doesn't call it. You jump in there.

You put him against the fence. You take him down. and you win the round. So walk us through that. Did you feel the poke? Were you surprised it wasn't called? No, I didn't feel the poke. I don't know if the poke happened,

but I was just in the heat of the moment and, you know, trying to punch this dude's face off. So it didn't make any impact. We go right up against the cage and we were kind of stopped for a second. Then I went into my wrestling. He wasn't going to stop what I was going to do. I mean, he had 25 minutes to try and stop what I was going to do.

He couldn't do it. He was defenseless. He gave up. He just, he was just, he didn't want to get finished. That was his big thing. It's not getting finished, but he still got marked up, and was finished against the cage. And I outstruck him by double-out strikes. You know, I beat him striking.

I beat him rest. I beat him everywhere. The guy's a journeyman, like I said. I said all these things. I said truth about him. You know, he hit lightning in a bottle. He's a two-pumped chump. He doesn't have cardio like the cardio king.

He can't keep up, you know, with the greatest American fighter of all times. So, you know, it was an easy night. It was a flawless victory, Mike. The momentum of the fight just kind of went in your direction right there. I thought you won the second round. I know one judge scored the second for him. But we missed like a whole minute of that round watching it here in the United States because the stream just went away for like a minute.

So I mean, from what I saw, I scored it for you, but who knows what happened in that minute. But third round, I thought it was a 10-8 third for you. Like, none of the judges agreed with me, but I know I wasn't alone there. If you go to some of the websites and you even go to MMA fighting, like we scored it a 10-8 round for you. When that third round ended, what's going through your mind? because you have to feel like all-time high confidence. You have all the momentum after 15 minutes of that fight. So usually, you know, Street Judas, Phony Montana, Mosvidal is handed out three pieces in sodas.

I'm handing out 50, 44 in a soda. So I'm dominating him every single round. I knew it was complete domination. I heard the announcers in the third round. They're like, yeah, that's a 10-8 round. Even like, you know, Bispin and it wasn't D.C. I think whoever else was on the call, I think it was Anik, and they were even saying they thought it was a 10-8 round. So everybody knew it was just complete domination.

I won every single round. I mean, he didn't win one round. He had one judge who gave him one second round, but the two other judges scored that round for me. So I beat him every single round. Flawless victory. I can't believe the UFC paid me to do that. I used to do that for free, Mike. He used to do it every Tuesday and Thursday at the gym, American Trash Team.

So, you know, to get paid to do that and get paid him. Man, what a dream come true. God bless America. The fourth round, Mazdaal, lands the shot everyone's been talking about, and look to have you stunned a little bit and the round ends, and pretty much everybody again, even all the judges, even though he landed that punch, they still gave you that round. What happened there?

What happened there at the punch? Was this, did he just land something? Like, it was just a flurry that you weren't really prepared for? Like, what happened there? I was all balanced. I mean, I watched that back, and you can even go, look, I'm like circling to the left, caught, I mean, he hit me with a punch, but it wasn't like a powerful punch.

The dude hits like a bitch. So he hit me with a little tiny punch. And I was honestly going to the left. So my feet just got caught up and tripped. I barely even, like, just stumbled. And then I got my footing. That's why he didn't come out to me because he could see in my eyes. I'm still there.

Right before that, a minute before that, I had him up against the cage with a flurry of punches and almost had him finish. Like, I seen the eyes roll in the back of his head. So that was a legit almost finished. You can't talk about the one punch he had. He made his, he made his Instagram and Twitter main picture. That's how butt hurt and that and deepen his feelings. And he knows he's my little bitch and I'm Jorge Mastodal's father that he is.

That he made that the one punch he landed the whole entire fight and I was off balance. He thinks that's a big deal, dude. I got right up and was right in his face. Bomb, jab, jab, jab, bum, right in his face. Stiffle with him. And he just went to doing what he does, bitch. Crawl up against the cage like a little fucking clown. I thought that moment was the most.

interesting moment in the fight, but not for the reason that everybody else did, because the whole storyline going in was these guys know each other so well. Like, I mean, how are they even going to approach this fight? But the point I kept trying to make was like three years is a long time. Like, there's a lot of time for growth and you do different things. You've gone to different gyms. He approaches things differently as well because that punch lands. And he admits like he's really tired in the moment. But at the same time, he said to the media after the fight that, like, he thought you were just going to shoot for a takedown right away. Like as soon as like you kind of went back, you were just going to shoot for a takedown.

And he was staying patient waiting for the takedown. So my thought process was like even heading to the fight, yeah, these guys know each other so well. But like I said, both fighters are much different. And I felt like this is the first time in that fight where that theory might have been tested. The history meets mystery crossroads, if you will. Did you think of it that way as well? Because you feel like, I mean, it was just a shot. You got knocked off balance.

But I mean, he didn't come after you. in that moment. Were you surprised by that? He tried to come after me. You had to go re-watch the tape. He tried to come after me, and I put a punch right in his face, and I was solid.

Like, I wasn't wobbled. He didn't hurt me. It wasn't like a bad punch. It was literally off balance and hitting me at the same time. I mean, I literally was a trip on my own self. So he knew. He could tell. He's like, dude, yeah, he's not heard.

I didn't hurt him at all, you know. So, you know, I beat him in the striking department. I doubled his output in strikes, more strikes to his face. I completely outclassed him, Mike. I mean, if he wants to talk about one punch in 25 minutes, okay, let's talk about the end of the 25 minutes. Did you not see that guy hanging on the fucking security guard?

Just can't even literally walk because he's so exhausted. And he's still, like, flipping up. Oh, fuck you, call me. I'm going to get you. Come on, bro. You can't even fucking speak. Can't even walk. He has two people holding him up.

I'm there. I'm fresh. Like, I didn't even get in a 25 minute. fight. Imagine if someone isn't pulling me off of him. Imagine if we're in the streets, Mike. I'm literally taking his life. His life is over in that moment. So, you know, he knows his soul got taken and his life's over and the king of Miami's here. Kobe Chaos Covington. Yeah, you could tell, I mean, the punch, it didn't have much of an effect, if any, because you go out there, like you said, you finished the round

infathinge. You finished the fight emphatically. I scored it again. Another 10-8. I scored it 50-43. It was on Twitter. I mean, I think one judge gave you a 10-8 for that fifth round, but he said what he had to say afterwards, but you ended the round in dominant position. You're on top, you're landing punches until the horn sounds, but right after the horn

sounds, right before it, I think, you start saying stuff to him, and that, whatever you said to him got him really upset. Like, that's what he was up in saying what he had to say back. What did you say to him as the fight ended? Yeah, and I was like, yeah, that's right. I'm still your daddy. You can't do nothing about it. You're

my bitch and I'm the king of Miami and he just he you know he took that to heart but it was just so funny he gets up he's like stumbling like trying to talk back to me and I'm just laughing deep down inside I'm just like bro you have no chance and you know it deep down inside but you just that's just your ego and your pride you can't not just fucking keep chirping and at least he's going to try you know like Dustin Porre he's scared of me he's probably not going to try he's going to take the loss Dustin Poir is going to have the fastest loss it's going to be against us world record in UFC history. Zero seconds of round one verbal

submission by Colby Chaos Coventon. Dustin has the fastest tap out in UFC history. So at least George tried. He had a little bit of honor for himself and he actually came out and actually tried. But Dustin, he has no honor or dignity for him or his family. He doesn't respect his wife or his

kid or his team. So he's not even a try. So he's got to look in the mirror every day and know he's a coward. So you brought it up, so I'm going to go ahead and ask you about it because the Porre callout, both you guys are obviously in interesting spots right now and things have been said in the past. There's some heat there between you two guys. You have similar histories as you do with Mazdaal. But you mentioned, you know, like it's become a big topic since the fight because people, fans, media, et cetera, like they liked the callout from a competitive fighting, let's settle at standpoint.

Like no one, everyone likes the fight. Like everyone thinks it makes sense. The issue people seem to have. and you kind of brought it up there was the way you may have went about it. Like bringing in the family, the child, all that stuff. Maybe you cross the line. That's how some people are talking. So I just wanted to, you know, since you brought it up, sort of offer you the chance to respond to that, those criticisms if you don't mind responding.

I mean, the criticisms are let's talk facts from the fight purpose perspective, first off. You know, he claims to be this top 10 pound for pound fighter, one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. Okay. Why don't you fight a guy that's actually your weight? class, Dustin. He weighs more than me. We used to step on the gym at American Trash Team every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. He would wait more than me. He was like 185, 188. I'm 182, 183. So I'm just not a weight bully. I don't want to cut all that weight to light weight. It's just too much. It's too much sacrifice in my life. I want to enjoy my life and eat my

meals and not miss meals. So he's a weight bully, Dustin. He's claiming to be, he's number one, his weight division. He's saying his Balkans season he wants to come up away. He's trying to fight the guy that's crippled Nate Diaz, the guy has a list. He's trying to fight that guy, but he doesn't want to fight the number one guy at 170. But he wants to fight some other guy that's crippled and handicapped in the corner. Like, why you find that guy? That guy doesn't do anything. Like, he's going to fight someone else anyway.

So come fight the number one guy. He said hopes and dreams, title aspirations. He wants to talk like he's some powerful pound fighter. And, dude, it's not like I'm trying to call on someone that didn't call me out. Dude, if he wouldn't use my name, Mike, I would never have even talked about it. But when you use my name for a little clickbait and headlines to say it's on site with me and try and act like you're some tough gangster in the streets, bro, we can fight anywhere. He has all these stipulations for us to fight, Mike.

I just got one stipulation. Just let the world watch and enjoy themselves. We can go do it in a park if he wants to get dropped on his head and be in a coma where he can never see his wife and kid again. But he can also just come fight me and get paid by the UFC and take his ass whoopin like a man. But he's got, he's not a man. He's a little kid. He's going to put his prize. and ego before his family and before, you know, the honor and dignity of his team and friends.

So that's pretty sad, man. It shows what kind of person Dustin is, but he's taking it out one way or another. I'm not really worried if he doesn't want to fight. He's still a bitch. Anybody I fight, Mike, is going to be a headlining marquee, a big pay-per-view fight, you know? So, and talking about his family. I mean, dude, he uses this kid as a prop. Oh, I'm a dad, I'm this.

Oh, he uses his wife, puts her on the camera. He throws them out there. Why are you throwing them out there to sell your family? business. This is cage fighting, Mike. We're getting locked in the cage to hurt each other. I'm going to send that guy at the hospital and try and take his life away, take his soul. So let's not talk about,

you know, words that hurt people's feelings. Let's talk about, you know, actions and just people acting the way they do. As far as the Mazadol victory goes, where does that one rank for you? Like, if the Colby Coveington biography gets written, what chapter is this fight going to be in?

Yeah, it'll be up there in one of the chapters, you know? It's it's a great one because I started the guy's career and I got to end his career. So that's such a great feeling and such a good feather in the cap that, you know, it's going to be a good part of history, a good part of my legacy and the sports history and legacy. So, you know, it corrected what was wrong with the universe. That guy's wrong with the universe.

He's a piece of shit, deadbeat father. He's not a good person. He's a criminal. He's grand theft charges, went to jail, never graduated middle school. And he pretends like he knows politics and he knows what's best. for America. Bro, you're scamming off the government, George. You got PPP loan. Like, I thought you were rich in this. Why are you using the government handouts and loans? And he was using an Obama phone when I used to live with it, Mike. So you're using an Obama phone and

trying to get me to do food stamps, but I never kept the food stamps. Even though I was completely broke, I never took them. I was always like, no, I don't want food stamps. I feel like I'm cheating the system. I want to work and earn it the hard way, the blue collar American way. So I'm not like, George, you guys are a piece of your person. And I'm glad I was the one that got to expose him and fry him out in front of the world. Would you ever fight him again? Like, would anything entice you? Like, if, I know you did, the pay-per-view points, like, didn't really matter.

You said you'd fight him for free. But if the UFC offered you, like a, if they offered, they backed the Brinks truck up and offered you a whole bunch of money, would you fight him again? Yeah, he can get beat up again, man. He can get put out unconscious this time. You know, that was my worst performance and his best performance, and he still got starched every single round. So if he, if the fans want to see me put his lights out for good.

And, I mean, if we see each other, he knows if we see each other in the streets. He's talked too reckless. Like, he's going to get beat up there as well, drop him on the concrete. But the UFC won't be able to pay his medical bills. So hopefully he'll get another UFC fight. But, you know, I'm open to anything. The biggest and best business that Hunter Campbell and the UFC want to do that I'm ready to do. And I'm excited and I'll be very ready.

They know how hard I work and how much better I get every single day. So your friend, Chail Sunnan, who you know quite well, created some buzz on your best. half because, you know, talking about the Poria thing, he discussed sort of the place that you're in. You know, Usman might be fighting Leon Edwards next. That seemed Dana White said today that that's probably the fight they're going to make when Usman's hands are ready to go. Then there's the Burn Shemaya fight coming up in a couple weeks. So if the Poria fight can't happen, he, Uncle Chale suggests Israel Adasania needs a foil. And is he starting to fight guys a second time? You could be that guy. Maybe you could go up and fight for the middleweight title. So what did you think of Chale's

idea? Do you like this idea? Is this something you think that, like, did you think that this could be possible before Chale said it and everyone started talking about it? Uncle Chale, man. That guy's a fucking legend. I mean, dude, one night and five dead bodies, Uncle Chale? Damn, man.

You burying them in the desert just like me. I'm putting them in there one at a time. Street Judas first. But yeah, Uncle Chale, he makes a very good point, Mike. Everybody was talking about Usman fighting on Asana and this and that. and Ousman's a bad matchup for O'Donio. Dude, I'm a bad matchup for Ousman.

I beat him our last fight Madison Square Garden. So why can't I go up and fight Otisania? You know, I won't have to cut one pound. I'll just wake up and fight my natural weight, how much I weigh. So that guy cannot stop what I do, Mike. And I truly believe that wholeheartedly. He's good at cardio kickboxing. But if I want to do cardio kickboxing, I'll get a Tybo video and start doing

Tybo in my living room and practicing that cardio kickboxing. but I do American wrestling, man. And this is mixed martial arts and blending the martial arts. And no one can blend the martial arts like me. I put them all together. I'm a world-class striker. An AA plus Olympic-level world-class wrestler. So I'm unbeatable.

And that style, you know, over the next couple of years, people are going to see just how impossible it is to stop that style. You know what? You make a great point about the wrestling now, because we're seeing it all over the place. We're seeing Bryce Mitchell is a perfect example. who fought on that same card, the chain wrestling that this guy puts together.

Like, that style you guys have where if you can't get the first take done, you get the second. If you can't get the second, you get the third, and the fourth and the fifth, it just keeps coming. And we're seeing some of these guys,

like Bryce is great. Nick Maximoff's another guy who's implementing that style and being very successful with that. Like, so you kind of saw the writing on the wall that eventually this style is going to take over and it's almost impossible to stop, especially if you have the cardio.

So this is something you saw a mile away, but are you seeing, it more prevalent now? Are you seeing some of these other guys finding success off of this cycle as well? I mean, definitely. People are learning and they're trying to game script and blueprint off of the Colby Chaos Covington career, you know, what I've been able to accomplish, the things I've been able to do and the style I've been able to fight. So of course, a lot of people see, they're like, yeah, you know, maybe I can do that. You know, maybe if Colby's doing it, let me try it. So, you know, that's always going to be a beautiful skill that it's going to come

to the martial arts and it's going to see if it can be power, if it can beat speed, if it can beat this and that. So it's amazing to test the elements and see which one's going to be the best one and prevail. Just in terms of like the styles matchup, like you and it, like, yeah, that style against Adasania because people say like, here's the blueprint. All you got to do is take Izzy down and people have tried and people haven't really able to get him down is take down defense has has held up in some of these fights. So from a, from a martial arts perspective, you, must, like how confident do you feel matching up with Izzy? No, I feel extremely confident. I would say that I would have to be a pretty good-sized favorite over him. Like, that's honestly how I feel.

He can't stuff my shots and if he stops at once. There's going to be at least 20 or 30, you know, I'm already in the records, I think, for like second most in the division for in the history for takedowns. And I'm not even trying. You see after my last fight with George, wasn't even break a a sweat. I was still bouncing around the outgun, telling him to lick my nuts and telling him that, you know, he's still my little son, and I wasn't even breathing hard, and he's being held up by two people. So my style against Izzy, like, you know, I just, he was getting taken out by Robert Whitaker. That guy's never taken a wrestling class, let alone a division one, you know, a high level wrestling collegiate class, you know, led by, you know, a master instructor, like Dan Gable, who's one of the

legends and the four founders for American wrestling. So when you learn that type of style and that type of mentality, there's just not going to be a person alive that's going to be able to stop you. You know, I used to dig ditches for fun just to get a workout, Mike. Like, I've done some, some very, I go to deep, deep lengths to really push myself and push my body and mind to be ready for any opportunity in any fight. And there's just not a lot of people that can keep up with that. And I know he's not one of them.

When the tough gets going, you saw what happened in his last fight or a couple of fights ago when he fought Blockowitz. He just, he couldn't stop it when guys keep attacking him. So I know I can do the same and I know it's a great fight and hopefully the U.S.C. will give me the opportunity. Adasania said June, July, he'd like to return after the win over Whitaker. And Cananeer stopped Derek Brunson. Everyone feels like he's the guy. But if you go back and kind of look through Canineer's career, he's had a hard time bouncing back, like getting back very quickly.

Adasania seems to want to get right in there. We've seen fighters in the past kind of jump over the number one contender to go to Izzy's schedule. So if Canaanator's not ready for some reason, and that phone rings June, July, that work for you? You're in? Of course. You know, I was ready to go for May, for April, for March still. You know, I didn't have a scratch for my last fight. My last fight was flawless victory.

So, you know, of course, July International Fight Week is the big pay-per-view the UFC does in Vegas. So that's perfect timing to get back in there. So hopefully they can put one of these fights together that I would like one of the biggest and best fights the UFC can put together. and do business-wise on their end. So July, that's perfect. I would love to do it. And hopefully Hunter Campbell hears up my phone soon.

So if we can't do Porre, we can't do Ata Sanya. I'm wondering what really makes sense right now unless you just want to wait because most people are saying give Colby the winner of the Bern-Shimae fight at UFC 273 in Jacksonville

because that sets up a number one contender fight. Winner gets Usman. Doesn't matter what happened in the first two fights. Like whoever wins that fight gets the fight with Usman. Maybe that's the direction. maybe get you back to Kamara quicker.

I know how badly you want that fight, but I mean, what does make sense for you? Like if it's neither of those two fights, if it's not Usman, what does make sense for you? You know, that's what makes sense for me and what makes sense for the UFC, like business-wise, just putting the biggest and best fights together. Dustin's that fight, you know,

millions and millions of fans want to see that. Like, he said it's on site. He said a lot of these things to the media. So that fight does good business for the UFC. But if they have another big fight in mind, I'm here and I'm a bit of him. I'm open CCI Kobe Covington Incorporated is open for business so you know I got a lot of respect for for Hunter Campbell I call him the face that runs the place because that guy truly is like the face behind closed doors that running that place and making sure the UFC operates like a well oiled machine like it does so whenever he calls my phone you know I want to put the biggest and best fights and whatever they have I'll be ready to respond to the call I'm trying to get a new contact I'm trying to fight and earn that right Mike to be a lifetime UFC fighter like Lock me down long-term UFC that you guys know you're riding for me for life because I want to ride with them for life, man.

I love the UFC brand, the company. And look, I mean, look at this stuff. Look what I have on my neck on my wrist. You know, this is legitimately more than houses cost just sitting here on my neck and on my wrist. And that's thanks for the UFC giving me the opportunities, giving me a chance to create my own destiny. So it's been beautiful to put destiny in my own hands and work hard and bank on myself. How many fights do you have left on your current deal, if you don't mind me asking? I got to go check, you know, it's, I'm not sure, to be honest.

I have to check. I'm sure it's a few or something, but, you know, it's just, they give you fights, and sometimes they extend it every fight, so I'm not really sure. I just, I love being a UFC fighter and everything that comes with it. So I can tell you, we're just getting started. So you want that, you want that Brett Hart, 96 deal where they sign you for 20 years? Like, let's get one of those. deals in there. That's exactly what I want. I want to work. I want to work for the UFC after I'm

done fighting for them. I want to expand that brand. I love this sport and, you know, the next generation of talent. Like, I'm all big and building them up and trying to give them knowledge and pass along what's been passed to me. So, you know, I want to, when I'm done fighting in like five, six years, you know, I want to be able to move on and be a full-time, like, UFC employee. We talked about, we mentioned Brett Hart. You said Face that runs the play, so it got me thinking to wrestling, and I know you're a big wrestling when I was watching wrestling, Scott Hall, Razoramone,

has passed away, man, some sad stuff. How did you react to that news? Yeah, it was tough, man. It was hard to see, man. Gone too soon, you know, I hope he rest in peace and his family, condolences to his family during this trying time, but, you know, it's just, it's sad,

man, you never know when your last day is going to be, so you have to cherish every moment you have here on earth and just be thankful to, you know, you know, our Heavenly Father for just blessing us and giving us another day. So gone too soon, man. You know, I hope he's kicking up in heaven

and just, you know, I hope he rests in peace. Just up there, oozing machismo, as he did in the WWF. I appreciate it, man. It's always great coming out. I saw you look at you watch. You probably have shit to do, so I don't want to keep any longer, my man.

So I appreciate the time. Anything else you want to get off your chest before we wrap up here? I just want to say, biggest shout out to my tailor Luigi Girardi. The guy just changed my suit game you know. He did so much for me that I can't

thank him enough for what he's done for me you know. It's been such a pleasure to work with him and have him on Team Colby Coventon Incorporated. So hit up Luigi Girardi if you're looking for a fine Italian thread of suit and if you need a wedding, you got an event to go to anything.

That guy's the man. And shout obviously to Bang Energy. You know, we just created this new drink, booze. And this shit's the future of sports drinks, like just no sugar, like all the right amino acids and vitamins that you need. And it's overtaking all those other energy drinks that have all the sugar in them. So shout out Jack O'Walk, booze, and bang energy. Awesome, man.

Congratulations on the win. I appreciate the time as always. And hopefully we see you back in there. A-sat by man to build upon this momentum. I hope so. Listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Simons has your holiday outfits sorted. Be ready to wait.

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