Colby Covington hopes to face Leon Edwards at UFC 295 on Nov. 11 at Madison Square Garden after a London booking fell apart.
“That’s the last thing [UFC President] Dana [White] had told me in Miami when we had dinner,” Covington said on Chael Sonnen’s YouTube channel,. “Leon didn’t want to have a homecoming day. He wanted to rob his fans of a pay-per-view. He thinks they’re deserving of this s***** Fight Night card this weekend. So I feel bad for the fans of London.
“Now the last time I had heard, [my title fight] was August September from [UFC executive] Hunter Campbell, and he’s a man of his word. The title shot is guaranteed. I know I’m gonna get it. There must be something wrong on Leon side. Maybe he’s injured, maybe something’s going on, maybe he needs a little bit more time to get ready for ‘Chaos.’ But, this fight’s going to happen. They’re not going to put this in the desert, in Abu Dhabi. What sense does that make?”
Edwards pushed to defend his belt in October at UFC 294 after passing on Saturday’s UFC London card to allow more recovery time from his trilogy with Kamaru Usman at UFC 286. Covington weighed in as a backup fighter for that bout and subsequently was named No. 1 contender by White.
Covington, a former interim welterweight champ, claimed Dustin Poirier and Khamzat Chimaev were the options before his backup role, but both turned down a fight.
“From my side, I’ve been ready since day one, since the Jorge [Masvidal] fight,” Covington said. “I’ve accepted every fight that’s been offered my way. First it was Dustin, they wanted to make that fight. They saw the potential and a big fight there and Dustin’s a p****. He’s scared, he ran away from the challenge. Now we know that he’s all talk, he’s no walk.
“Then it was Chimaev. I was ready to end the hype with Chimaev, but he’s scared. He’s unprofessional. He’s a little dork. He ran away from the division. He’s scared to fight. He talks all this big game online, but he don’t talk inside the octagon. He don’t sign contracts and be a professional.
“So then that fell through, then they want The Ultimate Fighter. I accepted The Ultimate Fighter, and there’s only one person that could take it from me. He took it away from me, Conor [McGregor]. Then it was on to being the backup fighter in London.”
Covington has targeted lightweight Poirier and Chimaev in several interviews, leading to verbal skirmishes with the UFC stars in the media. Chimaev has denied turning down a fight with Covington; the Chechen star is now booked against Paulo Costa in his middleweight debut at UFC 284.
Covington hasn’t fought since March 2022, when he outpointed former teammate and friend Jorge Masvidal at UFC 272. He said booking he against Edwards at UFC 295 is an “insurance policy” for the pay-per-view card.
“They can’t depend on Jon Jones,” said Covington of the heavyweight champ, who’s scheduled to headline opposite Stipe Miocic. “You know better than anyone. He’s unreliable, he’s unprofessional. He could get popped for steroids, he could do a glass of tequila and some booger sugar up his nose, and he might be beating his wife and in jail again.
“So who better than to have as an insurance policy than Colby ‘Chaos’ Covington, the guy that just so happens to occupy fourth-highest gate in arena history at Madison Square Garden. I think that’s where it’s gonna end up playing at.”
If it doesn’t, however, Covington claimed Edwards had a limited amount of time to delay.
“I just don’t see it being pushed back [past] December in Vegas,” he said. “I think [Edwards] gonna get stripped if it goes anything beyond that.”
The good news for Covington is that White has already targeted the Edwards vs. Covington fight for the New York City event. All that needs to happen now is the signing of contracts.
“It just so happens that the [UFC] media rights are coming to an end at the end of this year,” he added. “So we know that they’re gonna want to stack shows and get the biggest and best fights out there before they have to do a new media rights deal.”
Below is Covington’s full video.