Colby Covington says Leon Edwards ‘will be stripped’ if he refuses to fight him
Colby Covington weighed in on the thought of Leon Edwards refusing to fight him after Dana White officially named him as the next challenger for his UFC welterweight championship.
While speaking to MMAFighting, Covington was asked what would happen should Edwards refuse to defend his title against him. He mentioned that the welterweight champion doesn't have a choice in the matter and there would be consequences for him if he turned it down.
"He gets stripped, he gets stripped of the title. He will get stripped. He's not the draw in this division, Mike, I'm the draw. Look at the numbers over the weekend, I didn't even fight and my numbers towered over the main event."
'Chaos' then brought up that he doesn't believe 'Rocky' is charismatic and that he doesn't bring as much entertainment value as he does. The 35-year-old mentioned that the champion doesn't get to call the shots and used former two-division Conor McGregor as a comparable, saying:
"There's no personality, no charisma. Same thing with Marty [Kamaru Usman], you know. Marty needs a belt to be relevant, he's not relevant either. Neither one of them are relevant, so for Leon to sit there and act like he's Conor McGregor. You're not Conor McGregor, bro. You don't get to call the shots, dude, like, you're a nobody."
Watch the video below:
It remains to be seen whether the UFC would actually strip Edwards of the title should he refuse to fight Covington, but 'Chaos' is clearly who the promotion has slotted in for the title shot.
Colby Covington blasts Dustin Poirier for refusing to fight him
Colby Covington calls out Dustin Poirier after his victory 🗣️
@espnmma | #UFC272 https://t.co/VgcEqKhrmf
The beef between Colby Covington and Dustin Poirier is far from being squashed as 'Chaos' blasted the former interim lightweight and claimed that he turned down a fight with him.
During the afromentioned interview, he mentioned that Poirier had teased a move to welterweight in the past and when the opportunity to fight him and settle their differences inside the octagon presented itself, he declined, saying:
"He talked all that sh*t, 'Oh, I'm gonna come up to 170, I wanna fight Colby, I'm gonna do this. 'You know, he said on Twitter, 'I accept.' Dude, he never accepted. The UFC gave him the fight, you know, the biggest money fight that he was gonna get besides obviously Conor [McGregor] and he fumbled it." [12:45 - 13:01]
It would be interesting to see whether 'The Diamond' commits to a move up to 170lbs in the future as a bout with 'Chaos' could be very lucrative for both.