Former interim UFC welterweight champion Colby Covington is eyeing a return to action next year, and he has a couple of potential foes in mind.
Covington hasn’t appeared inside the Octagon since his third failed attempt at capturing undisputed gold on mixed martial arts’ biggest stage last December.
Having previously had his ambitions stalled by Kamaru Usman, Leon Edwards continued the trend against Covington at UFC 296 to record his second — and ultimately last — successful defense of the 170-pound belt.
“Chaos” put that result down to a broken foot sustained in the very first round. And although he targeted a return once healing from that this past summer, he most recently pointed to his work on the campaign trail for Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election as the reason behind his ongoing absence.
With that, the controversial UFC veteran now has his sights on an early 2025 return to active competition.
During a recent appearance on Submission Radio, Covington claimed that talks are ongoing over a potential showdown with Jack Della Maddalena in the first quarter of 2025.
While “Chaos” was surprisingly respectful when discussing the Australian, the same can’t be said when his attention turned to an option from outside his division…
“A fight that’s being talked about, this guy’s running his mouth a little bit, which is weird because every time I see this guy, he puts his eyes down and he walks past me like a little b*tch,” Covington said. “Now he wants to throw stones in the media. I don’t know if you’ve seen, Paddy Pimblett, he’s been throwing some stones.
“He’s been running his mouth in the media, saying, ‘I’ll go up to welterweight, I’ll fight Colby.’ Of course he wants to come up to welterweight and fight me or Conor (McGregor), the two biggest names in the UFC right now,” Covington continued. “He’d be honored and be lucky to get this fight. But I think we need to get it going. I don’t like when people talk big to the media and don’t back up their talk. … We need to hold him accountable for his words…stupid, dumb bowl cut.”
Pimblett has long expressed a firm dislike toward Covington, calling him out for the supposed persona he’s employed for much of his UFC career.
“The Baddy” was notably among the vocal critics of the American’s conduct at the pre-fight press conference for UFC 296 last December, during which he made unsavory comments about Edwards’ deceased father.
