Colby Covington opens the door to a duel against Khamzat Chimaev: 'he's a joke'

C. Covington set his sights on K. Chimaev. Photo: SUPER FIGHTS montage

The meteoric rise of Khamzat Shimaev in the welterweight division (77 kg) he created a line of fighters willing to face the Swedish sensation. Among them is the last man to fight for the category belt: Colby covington.

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In an interview with the North American website “MMAFighting.com”, Colby covington, who recently lost for the second time to the champion Kamaru Usman, stated that Chimaev is a “joke” and opened the door to sending the Russian-born Swedish citizen “to the hospital”.

“He (Chimaev) is a joke. He needs to beat someone for real, someone in the top 5, someone at the top of the rankings, not just face hand-picked people. How many fights does he have in the UFC? Four? The press loves to rush these hype kids. This is fighting, man. People can get seriously hurt rushing like that. But if you want to rush him, take some time off his life and send him to the hospital for treatment, then, yes, the door is open. I love doing good business with the UFC. It would be an honor to hit whoever they want me to hit. If that's the name they offer, I promise I will train extremely hard and showcase a new range of skills that the world has yet to see. I improve with each fight. I add layers to my game. The person they marry against me will see these new layers and get seriously hurt,” assured Covington.

Covington, who only earned the opportunity to fight for the title after ten fights in the UFC, responded to whether he is frustrated at seeing Chimaev mentioned in conversations about the belt after just four appearances.

“I think what we've learned, not just in sports, not just in the UFC, is that this is a generation that likes things handed out. It's the generation of the participation trophy. This guy is nothing more than a winner of participation trophies, a winner of fights delivered. If that’s what they want to do, then that’s what we’ll do,” Covington responded.

Despite Covington's wishes, the tendency is for Covington's next opponent to Khamzat Shimaev be Brazilian Gilbert Durinho. According information from the website “Frontkick.online”, the UFC is negotiating the duel for January 2022.