UFC welterweight contender Colby Covington doesn't seem too interested in a potential showdown with fellow contender Leon Edwards...but "Chaos" isn't completely shutting the door on the matchup — Fightful has you covered on what it would take for Covington to accept a fight with "Rocky" and other news from around the word of MMA.
Colby Covington Explains What It Would Take To Accept Bout Against Leon Edwards
Former interim UFC welterweight champion Colby Covington has quite a few expectations that need to be met in order for him to accept a bout against Leon Edwards.
"Chaos" has his eyes set on UFC gold and getting a rematch against champion Kamaru Usman, but Covington isn't closing the door on a potential showdown with Edwards and says it comes down to one thing...cold hard cash.
“Yeah, definitely," Covington told Submission Radio of potential interest in a bout against Leon Edwards. "They know what they can do, man. They know what they can do to get me to show up for that fight. But I’m not showing up for charity, guys."
“The guy still hasn’t won in two years," Covington continued. "A No Contest, that’s not a win, that’s not a fight. You need to come back and get a win. He needs to rematch that Bailey guy, they need to fight again, that Bailey guy (Muhammad) was talking all reckless all week, saying, ‘Oh Colby, if I saw that guy on the streets, I’d slap him, I’d do this.’ Bro, are you kidding me? Dustin Poirier and Jorge Masvidal said the same thing. ‘Oh, it’s on sight, I’m going to smack Colby when I see him in the streets.’ But then when they see me it’s head down. Pipe down little boy. These little boys, they talk reckless in the media, but then when they see each other it’s not the same energy, it’s a different energy. So these guys are talking reckless out there. Re-run that Leon fight vs. Bailey because nobody gives a sh*t about it, nobody wants to watch that hot garbage. The only fight to make is me vs. Marty Fakenewsman or maybe me vs. Street Judas Masvidal.”
Beneil Dariush Questions Tony Ferguson's Training Methods
UFC lightweight contender Beneil Dariush is on the streak of a lifetime and is closing in on the biggest fight of his career.
The Iranian-born contender is on the cusp of facing former interim champion Tony Ferguson at UFC 262 after putting together a six-fight winning streak.
However, Dariush isn't too impressed with "El Cucuy" and his training methods.
“I don’t know what Tony’s camp is like. I keep hearing rumors, ‘Oh, he doesn’t have the same people. He doesn’t have sparring partners. He doesn’t have this.’ I don’t know. I can tell you this, though: If I didn’t have my team and I didn’t have my sparring partners, I would look horrible,” Dariush told ESPN.
“I don’t know if I could even make it through a round in a fight: timing, conditioning, just the mental game. You get all of that from (sparring)," Dariush continued. "It’s weird. Max Holloway’s just a strange guy if he doesn’t really spar. I hope he’s just joking about that. But everything you need you get out of hard sparring, at least from me. All the things I need in a fight I get out of hard sparring: the timing, the movement, everything. So I hear a lot of stories about Tony not having that in his camp anymore. And I know he does these long practices or whatever, and I’m sure they have some benefit. But for a fight, man, iron sharpens iron. You need the best guys in the world.”
Kevin Holland Willing To Replace Darren Till Or Marvin Vettori
UFC middleweight contender Kevin Holland is just days away from his first career UFC main event against Derek Brunson at UFC Vegas 22.
However, Holland isn't letting his bout against Brunson keep him from looking forward to the future.
Two weeks following Holland's main event against Brunson, another pair of middleweight contenders will main event a UFC event in the form of Darren Till vs. Marvin Vettori at UFC Vegas 23.
The main event has caught Holland's attention..."Big Mouth" plans to step-in if anything were to happen to either of the two-men on the marquee.
“Whenever Till and Vettori are lined up, whoever pulls a cramp in that one or catches something, I’ll be there,” Holland told The Schmo.
“Putting my name in the hat. If one of them catches syphilis, I’m there," Holland continued.
Matthew Semelsberger Comments On 16-second KO Victory at UFC Vegas 21
UFC welterweight Matthew Semelsberger earned the biggest victory of his career at UFC Vegas 21, in the form of a 16-second KO of Jason Witt.
The 28-year old credited his "kill or be killed" mentality for the quick finish.
“I go into every fight with the kill or be killed, do or die attitude," Semelsberger told MMA Junkie. "I’ll be 100 percent honest: I don’t really think I’m going to win every single fight in the UFC. But you will see me go for the kill. You will see me going to entertain people. Whether it’s me lying unconscious or the other person lying unconscious, I’m going to throw everything that I’ve got at them. That’s probably why I’d say people enjoy watching me because I’m not afraid to risk it all.”
Georges St-Pierre Admits He Never Liked Fighting
To be one of the greatest of all-time you don't have to necessarily love what you're doing...or at least according to Georges St-Pierre.
Longtime UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre hasn't fought since he capture the promotion's middleweight champion when he submitted Michael Bisping at UFC 217 and the Canadian legend has opened up on numerous topics about his career since his retirement.
“One [similarity] is the most obvious one is every time I was walking towards the octagon to compete I was terrified," GSP told Complex Sports when asked about the comparisons between MMA and acting. "I was very uncomfortable. I was extremely nervous,” St-Pierre revealed. “But I was acting like I was very confident, very excited and happy to be there but it was totally the opposite. Like in fighting, acting requires a lot of repetition, a lot of preparation. In fighting, you do a lot of those as well and very often when you fight, you find out your opponent is never as good as you think he is and he’s never as bad as you think he is as well. It’s always different. Acting is the same thing. You can rehearse a scene as much as you want but when you get on set, you always find out that it’s totally different from what you’re expecting. The set is different. The reaction of the actor who you’re playing is different. You need to be like Bruce Lee said — be like water, my friend. You need to be ready to adapt. I believe the best actors and the best fighters are the ones that can adapt the most.”
Chan Sung Jung Briefly Considered Move To Lightweight
"The Korean Zombie" is itching to get back into the UFC octagon.
The fan-favorite featherweight has had mandatory military service, knee injuries and most recently a knee surgery keep him out of the octagon in the past few years, but Jung is ready to make his return...and considered doing it in a different weight class.
“All of the fighters that the UFC has given me to fight are now fighting each other,” Jung said on his YouTube channel.
“I had recently sat down with coach Eddie and Jason, my manager, and had a discussion about moving from the featherweight division to the lightweight division,” Jung said. “I asked Sean if I could fight any lightweight fighter ranked in the 15th to 20th place. Nevertheless, I had to give that up after hearing about how long I would have to wait. Since I had nothing scheduled as a featherweight fighter, I thought moving to the lightweight division wouldn’t be so bad. At least I would be doing something, but sadly, that didn’t work out either.”
Valentina Shevchenko Believes Rose Namajunas Will Beat Weili Zhang At UFC 261
UFC women's flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko will defend her title against Jessica Andrade as part of a title triple header at UFC 261.
The pay-per-view event set for April 24 in Jacksonville, Florida will mark the return of a UFC event with full crowd for the first time since March 2020.
Shevchenko offered up her prediction for the first of the three title fights that will be defend at the event, Rose Namajunas trying to reclaim the UFC women's strawweight championship when she faces champion Weili Zhang.
“I don’t want to rush it yet, because I still believe Rose is going to beat her,” Shevchenko told Fanatics View when speaking about a potential super fight between her and whoever comes out of UFC 261 as the strawweight champion. "I still believe in it. If it happens this way, there’s no more talk. Let’s see what’s going to happen on that night.
“I’ll take a look at that fight,” Shevchenko continued. “If Weili wants to, okay, you’re welcome. I don’t see any problems in fighting you. I totally understand her fight game, what she’s like as a fighter. It’s just I’m going through a massive preparation, doing a training camp to do my best in the fight (against Jessica Andrade). So let’s see what’s going to happen. Let’s see how that fight will turn out.”
Josh Barnett Comments On Brock Lesnar Potentially Competing In Bloodsport
Former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett has ran "Bloodsport" ever since his retirement from MMA.
The martial artist-turned professional wrestler has interest in bringing in yet another former UFC heavyweight champion-turned professional wrestler...Brock Lesnar.
However several hurdles are in the way of that ever happening, most notably money.
“I have no access to the kind of funds to make that happen,” Barnett admitted to Wrestling Inc.
“I’ve also reached out to Cain Velasquez through his management. We’re just not capable of — money is too much of an issue there, and that’s fair because nobody has to do anything for us. Nobody owes us any real favors that way," Barnett continued. "If someone like Cain, well, I could make an offer to Brock, but there’s nothing I could do that would entice Brock Lesnar considering the kind of money that he makes and has made so that’s totally fine. But my appeal is always that there is no better place for people that really want to just show exactly who they are in that professional wrestling ring, in the rawest environment possible with all the other stuff stripped away and just let whatever is inside their soul shine out. There’s no place better for it than Bloodsport, and if that interests you, then we got something for you, but if you’re looking at it as a business transaction, which I won’t fault you either, we’re working on it but some things are more important than money.”
Rafael dos Anjos Set To Miss Around 3 Months Following Sports Hernia Surgery
Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos won't be fighting Islam Makhachev or anyone else in the near future.
The Brazilian-born former champion decided to get a specialist's opinion on his nagging pelvic injury by returning home to Brazil to have Dr. Rickson Moraes evaluate his injury.
"RDA was feeling that acute pain for last 11 months. But the scenario got worse five months ago, three months before the fight with [Paul] Felder, when he was running stairs. He was able to fight but the pain worsened, and after a series of exams in U.S., he came to me in Brazil and I referred him to these two specialists who work with me,” Moraes told Sherdog.
“Drs. Fernandes and Peixoto did a great job and are pretty optimistic that RDA will be able return in three months depending on his recovery and physiotheraphy,” Moraes continued.
Rose Namajunas' Brother Nojus Namajunas Set For MMA Debut
Former UFC women's strawweight champion Rose Namajunas is not the only member of her family now competing professionally in MMA.
Nojus, 30, is set to make his professional debut on March 27 at Mountain Force MMA 23.
“I’m super excited,” Nojus told MMA Junkie.
“It’s been a long time coming for me, actually," Nojus admitted. “All my life, I’ve been a fighter in my heart. I’ve had to use self-defense in real situations and stuff like that. Not only that, I’ve been around it and watched it and learned a lot. Once I started to train it, I started to perform pretty (well) in the gym and I was like, ‘Well, if these guys are pros and I’m doing it here with them, I should just try to commit myself and make a run for it.'”
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