Colby Covington is confident a fight with UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya would be extremely one-sided.
A fight between Covington and Adesanya was proposed by MMA analyst Chael Sonnen. The former UFC star thinks Covington is a worthy opponent for Adesanya and would do a good job of selling the fight.
Adesanya will likely defend his title against top contender Jared Cannonier next, but Sonnen thinks Cannonier's lack of confidence entering the fight is problematic. Covington labelled Sonnen a "legend" for suggesting a bout with Adesanya and promised to outclass 'The Last Stylebender' if they fought.
"Why can’t I go up and fight Adesanya? I won’t have to cut one pound, I’ll just wake up and fight at my natural weight," Covington told MMA Fighting. "That guy can’t stop what I do, and I truly believe that wholeheartedly. I do American wrestling. This is mixed martial arts and nobody can blend the martial arts like me.
"He was getting taken down by Robert Whittaker. That guy has never taken a wrestling class, let alone being a D-1, high-level collegiate [wrestler] led by a master instructor like Dan Gable, who is one of the legends, one of the forefathers of American wrestling.
Covington has missed out on the UFC welterweight title twice to Kamaru Usman in his last four fights. 'Chaos' is undeniably the second-best welterweight on the roster, but is in search of a new challenge and Adesanya could serve as a worthy opponent.
Adesanya has struggled against wrestlers during his time in the UFC, being outwrestled by Jan Blachowicz in his failed move up to 205-pounds last year. Covington thinks Adesanya wouldn't be able to keep up with his relentless pace for 25-minutes.
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"I go to deep, deep lengths to really push myself, my body and mind to be ready for any opportunity and any fight. There’s just not a lot of people who can keep up with that. Izzy’s not one of them.
“I feel extremely confident and I feel I would be a pretty good sized favourite over him. That’s honestly how I feel. He can’t stuff my shots, and if he stuffs it once, there’s going to be at least 20 or 30 [more coming]. I’m already, I think, second in the division’s history for most takedowns and I’m not even trying.
"You saw in my last fight with Jorge, I didn’t even break a sweat bouncing him around the octagon, telling him to lick my nuts, telling him he’s still my little son and I wasn’t even breathing hard. He was being held up by two people."
