Colby Covington is set to face his arch-nemesis, welterweight king Kamaru Usman, at UFC 268. He plans on winning, of course, and already knows who his next target is.
Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. Covington told Sportskeeda that he wants to move up to middleweight and take on the reigning champ there.
Covington Wants Adesanya After Usman, Plans on Becoming Double Champ
“I’m gonna fight in my weight class against Kamaru Usman.
I’m gonna get the world title, 170, welterweight, and then I’m going to be working with you and Bang Energy to put on the muscle mass, and we’re going to go up to middleweight, to 185 and we’re going to beat Israel Adesanya.”
It’s an admirable goal for Covington, although changing divisions is far easier said than done. Defeating Kamaru Usman, ranked the best active pound-for-pound fighter alive. Only Jon Jones ranks higher, and Jones hasn’t fought since February 2020.
Last time Colby Covington fought Kamaru Usman, he lost via brutal fifth-round TKO, suffering a broken jaw in the process. Usman has only improved since, while Colby Covington has a solitary TKO win over Tyron Woodley to boast for the intervening time.
Umsan amassed three wins since last time they fought, including knockout victories over Jorge Masvidal and Gilbert Burns. Usman v Covington 1 was a brutal five-round fight which saw the two wrestling-oriented fighters choose to stand up and trade blows for the duration of the bout.
That makes a potential Covington v Adesanya fight more intriguing at the very least. Colby’s style is strongly rooted in his wrestling background, while virtually Adesanya’s entire game is based on his kickboxing pedigree.
One would expect Colby Covington to grapple with Adesanya, but the 6’4” Nigerian king of the middleweight division has a substantial reach advantage with serious knockout ability to boot. In fact, Israel Adesanya remains undefeated at middleweight, despite the division featuring the likes of Robert Whittaker and Darren Till.
On top of that, Colby walks around at a weight very close to the welterweight limit, something he’s proudly boasted about for a while. The addition of ten pounds of lean mass might impact Covington’s mobility and agility, which would make for a very short fight against the likes of Adesanya.
Before any of that, however, we have to see how UFC 268 goes down. Even in the event that Colby does defeat Kamaru Usman, an immediate rematch is far more likely than an rapid rise to 185lbs.
Do you want to see Colby Covington move up to middleweight and try to claim dual titles? Let us know in the comments.
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