"He'd get knocked the f*** out" - Josh Thomson and John McCarthy on Colby Covington potentially fighting Israel Adesanya
![John McCarthy and Josh Thomson (left), Colby Covington (middle), Israel Adesanya (right) [Image credits: @johnmccarthymma, @stylebender, and @ufc via Instagram]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2022/03/26e8c-16466778757736-1920.jpg?w=500)
Colby Covington recently teased a move up to middleweight for a title fight with the division's champion Israel Adesanya. While it may seem like a good stylistic matchup, not many believe that the fight will end in favor of 'Chaos', who has already lost twice to welterweight titleholder Kamaru Usman.
Josh Thomson and John McCarthy shared a similar view on the potential bout during a recent episode of the Weighing In podcast.
'The Punk' clearly doesn't like Covington's chances against 'The Last Stylebender'. Thomson believes "he'd get knocked the f**k out" if the fight ever happens. McCarthy also offered his views, suggesting that Colby Covington needs to move up and fight a credible middleweight before getting a crack at the belt:
"He would have to go up and he would have to win in my opinion against a quality middleweight before they're ever going to think about putting him against [Adesanya]. They are not going to take him as a guy that lost twice to Usman and put him against the champ."
Watch the full episode of the Weighing In podcast below:
Israel Adesanya on Colby Covington's desire to fight for the middleweight title
Israel Adesanya hasn't completely dismissed the idea of a fight against Colby Covington. However, the middleweight king feels that the Californian needs to do some work first
'The Last Stylebender' recently sat down for an interview with TMZ Sports and responded to Covington’s desires for a championship opportunity. The 32-year-old advised the top welterweight contender to take on other 185lbers before staking his claim to the throne.
"Everyone always has the idea until they are across the cage from me and then it’s a different beast. Paulo Costa or anyone else that I have fought. I would say just fight someone else. You can’t just come straight for the champ. Who the f**k are you? Are you dumb? Call someone else out. It would be a selling point, definitely. Big mouth. I can shut that s**t up."
Watch Israel Adesanya's full interview with TMZ Sports below:
Israel Adesanya is coming off a unanimous decision win over Robert Whittaker in their title rematch at UFC 271. 'The Last Stylebender' is expected to take on No.2-ranked middleweight contender Jared Cannonier later this year. 'The Killa Gorilla' scored a second-round knockout win over Derek Brunson on the same card.