Colby Covington earned a spot on UFC welterweight Ian Machado Garry’s hit list by joining in to a chorus of negative and defamatory attacks against Garry and his family.
Now, Garry has a very violent plan for Covington, one that strikes to the heart of the character “Chaos” has created over the years.
“I’ll talk to him when I beat the f*** out of him in the octagon,” Garry said this week on The MMA Hour. “If [Donald] Trump’s in attendance, I will drag Colby in front of Trump, and I’ll beat the mouth off him, and I’ll say, ‘This is what you’ve created.’ Boom. ‘This is MAGA.’ I’m like, ‘It’s no more. Get rid of him. Get him out of the UFC.’
“I will silence Colby Covington. I will hit him so hard, he never speaks again. And when he loses to someone like me, a young prospect, he’s going to go, ‘Alright,’ maybe he goes back [the next day], he’s got one girl on one shoulder, one girl on the other shoulder, he’s beat, he says, ‘Maybe I should rethink my life’s choices. Maybe I should retire. That kid gave me an ass-whooping I’ve never had before in my life.’
“That’s the way I beat Colby. I don’t care where it is, or where it’s done, I know it’s coming.”
Some MMA observers aren’t as optimistic as Garry that he’ll get the chance to execute his plan. Covington is famously difficult to pin down on the fight calendar, and a fight with the lower-ranked Garry only expedites his exit from the rankings.
But Garry believes that with three title losses and a 2-3 record over his past five, Covington has lost the leverage to control his destiny. Garry, meanwhile, is 7-0 in the UFC octagon and this past Saturday at UFC 298 outpointed Geoff Neal to extend his unbeaten streak to 14-0.
“I know for a fact it’s a massive matchup when you think about where his ranking is now,” Garry said. “I’ve beat more top-15 competitors than Colby Covington has. His biggest claim to fame is he’s fought for three world titles, and he’s lost all of them. So I believe Colby still has a lot of respect from the fans. He’s still a massive matchup. He has a lot of followers. He’s a very good athlete. He pushes the pace, and he’s got great wrestling, but he’s not a tenth of the athlete I am. He doesn’t have the technique that I have. He doesn’t have the mindset that I have.
“The guy’s a joker and a clown. He was going to get cut by the UFC until he put on this fake persona that everybody knows about and is aware about. He’s a pantomime. But I know for a fact that I’m the biggest fight he’s going to get. He’s not going to fight an [Kamaru] Usman. He’s not going to fight Shavkhat [Rakhmonov], he’s not going to fight Belal [Muhammad], because they’re all terrible matchups for him.
“I’m a striker at heart. Striker versus wrestler makes sense. I’ve also not been tested against an elite American wrestler in the division, so give me the guy in the division who’s arguably the best at it. Let me show the world how much better I am than him. Let me do it over five rounds. Let me do it in a massive main event or co-main event in Ireland on the Conor McGregor/Michael Chandler card, whenever that is.
“But I promise you now, heart to heart, eye to eye, I will put Colby Covington face down on the canvas, whether I knock him out or choke him unconscious. I don’t care how it happens, I know it’s going to happen. He’s never, ever, ever going to be as good as me. And I just know there’s not a bigger matchup for him to take. There is no bigger paycheck for him to get at the moment, because I am the biggest name he can compete against.”
