Colby Covington knew nothing about Khamzat Chimaev fight until Dana White said it, per Chael Sonnen

(From left to right) Chael Sonnen, Colby Covington, Khamzat Chimaev and Dana White [Image Courtesy: @khamzat_chimaev and @colbycovmma in Instagram]

Chael Sonnen believes that Colby Covington didn't know anything about Khamzat Chimaev's fight until Dana White spoke about it with Pat McAfee.

On a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Sonnen said:

“I don’t think that Covington versus Chimaev is done. Not only I don’t think it’s done I don’t think it’s begun. I don't think Colby Covington knew anything about that until it was said on Pat McAfee. I don't think, that’s my opinion. I don’t have evidence to that.”

According to the MMA analyst, once UFC president Dana White has an idea, it’s tough to get him out of it. As the great promoter that he is, he will surely get this fight to happen:

“But the point that I’m trying to make is if you are trying to preserve that fight it’s very hard to get Dana off the idea once he’s on it. He’s very good at getting that fight to the ring. We’ll worry about everything, we’ll deal with it, but get the fight in the ring…. The great promoters will do that. But I don’t think this one’s done.”

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The idea of a matchup between Khamzat Chimaev and Colby Covington came out of Dana White’s mouth during his interview on The Pat McAffee show. After ‘Borz’ defeated Gilbert Burns at UFC 273, White said during his post-fight media scream that the UFC is interested in booking Chimaev vs. Covington.

Watch Chael Sonnen talk about Covington not knowing about the Khamzat Chimaev fight at 6:38 of the video below:

Chael Sonnen believes Khamzat Chimaev vs. Colby Covington should be a No.1-contender fight

The topic of the aforementioned bout has already been entertained by ‘The American Gangster’. In a previous YouTube video, Sonnen said that whoever emerges victorious out of it should be the No.1 contender.

Chael Sonnen added:

“I’m not sold on the idea that you’re going get Colby. I’m just not. Colby has not agreed to this. Colby has not commented on this. If you fight Chimaev, it would seem to me that’s the number one contender’s match. I’m very confident in telling you for Chimaev if he beats Colby, he will be the number one contender. I think you would all expect that. Kamaru Usman would expect that.”

As per the former UFC middleweight title challenger, the idea that the matchup will serve as a title eliminator only for 'Borz' makes no sense. Sonnen believes that the UFC will have to assure Covington a third shot at the title to finalize the deal:

“I’ll tell you right now, Colby will fight Chimaev. I just think you've got to sweeten the pot. I think that you’ve got to guarantee it’s a number one contender smash.”

Sonnen reminded his viewers that Covington has been given the short end of the stick by the promotion on numerous occasions. 'Chaos' lost the interim title without losing it in the cage. Moreover, 'The American Gangster' pointed out how 'Chaos' wasn't awarded the BMF title following his dominant victory over Jorge Masvidal.

The 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒊𝒂𝒎𝒊 👑

[ @ColbyCovMMA | #UFC272 ] https://t.co/YwpWeBuXbN

Watch Chael Sonnen talk about Khamzat Chimaev facing Colby Covington for a title eliminator at 0:34 of the below video: