Colby Covington, known for his provocative and outspoken nature, is once again stirring up controversy in the lead-up to his bout against Leon Edwards at UFC 296.
Covington, who has a penchant for trash talk and incendiary remarks, has this time turned his attention toward two prominent Russian figures in the MMA world: the current lightweight champion and the former undefeated lightweight champion.
Colby Covington claims Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov too ‘scared’ to fight him
Covington’s comments about the current UFC lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev, center around weight cutting. Chaos is implying that the Russian lightweight undergoes significant weight-cutting to gain an advantage in his division. Covington also accuses Makhachev of riding on the coattails of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s success.
In the case of the undefeated fighter, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Covington suggests that the former lightweight champion was hesitant to move up to the welterweight division, mainly to face him. The former interim welterweight champion has immense cardio mainly due to not cutting enough weight as he walks around in his low 180s.
Covington has a track record of using provocative language and trash talk as promotional tools, which are integral parts of his fight promotion tactics. As fight fans await UFC 296, which is headlined by Colby Covington and Leon Edwards, the number 2 ranked welterweight is doing his best to increase PPV buys in his recent interviews.
Colby Covington set to face Leon Edwards in welterweight title fight at UFC 296
The main event of UFC 296 is the highly anticipated welterweight title bout between Colby Covington and Leon Edwards. Edwards is the only British or European champion in the UFC while Covington would be fighting for the title for the third time. His previous two attempts were against Kamaru Usman.
“Chaos” was announced as Edwards’ second title defense by Dana White in the post-fight presser of UFC 286. Covington weighed in as a surprise backup fighter for the main event, which the British-Jamaican fighter won by unanimous decision.
However, Edwards initially declined to fight Covington in his post-fight speech. Nevertheless, the promotion got what they wanted by matching the champion and second-ranked welterweight fighter.
Even though Edwards holds two notable victories over Kamaru Usman, who holds two victories over Colby Covington, ‘Chaos’ is presumed to be a big challenge for ‘Rocky’ than ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’.
