Covington 'would love to fight' Strickland
No matter who wins the UFC 296 main event, we could be looking at a superfight next.
Before challenging Leon Edwards for the welterweight title Saturday in Las Vegas, Colby Covington expressed interest in facing middleweight champion Sean Strickland.
"(Strickland is) pretending to be everything he wishes I was," Covington told CODE Sports' Brendan Bradford. "So I'd love to slap Sean Strickland around. He's just a pathetic excuse of a human being. The guy literally has no fricking IQ. That guy's so f-----g stupid. The things he says - he needs to get his mouth wired shut, and I'm the guy to do it.
"The UFC knows I'm the one that can end these guys that hate the company and hate the world. So I would love to fight Sean Strickland."
Covington's comments come a month after Edwards said he wants to move up in weight at UFC 300 to challenge the winner of the middleweight title bout between Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis, which headlines UFC 297 on Jan. 20 in Toronto.
Edwards has defended the 170-pound belt once since taking it from Kamaru Usman in August 2022. Covington, meanwhile, is a former interim champ challenging for the undisputed strap for the third time after coming up short twice.
Edwards-Covington headlines the final UFC event of the year at T-Mobile Arena.