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Colby Covington Officially Confirms Status for UFC 303: Conor McGregor vs Michael Chandler Co-Main Rumors With Ian Garry

Published 04/28/2024, 9:46 AM EDT

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Colby Covington has confirmed that he will be fighting on UFC 303. ‘Chaos’ is involved in an ongoing feud with #7 ranked undefeated welterweight prospect Ian Garry, who had called out Covington after defeating Geoff Neal at UFC 298 in February. The two have been going back and forth on social media since.

While their beef seemingly died down over the past couple of months, Garry took to social media over the past week and claimed that Covington was refusing to sign a contract to fight him at UFC 303 on June 29. The card, which will be headlined by the return of Conor McGregor after three years out of the octagon, has a Jamahal Hill vs Khalil Rountree lightweight bout scheduled to be its co-main event. For now.

Covington finally broke his silence over and confirmed at least one part of it in a recent interview on ‘TwinsPod’. “I’m gonna fight this summer for sure. Someone’s gonna get fought, so you know they’re trying to figure out who the biggest name and the best business that we can do for the UFC. So International Fight Week is like their big event in the summer the UFC does that. They have like a big festival all week and big events and it’s capped off by this big pay-per-view on Saturday. So I think that’s when they’re planning for me as International fight week, just trying to figure out who’s gonna be the guy,” he said.

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Garry had promised that he was determined to have him vs. Covington as the co-main event of the International Fight Week card. The only problem was that Covington, according to ‘The Future’, was refusing to sign the contract, which prompted him to publicly call on the American to sign it and fight him on UFC 303.

The reasons behind Garry’s eagerness to fight Covington are clear: Covington ranked #4 in the division has been on a decline as a fighter, and has significant star power owing to the brash, rude, and outspoken villainous character he has played so well throughout his career. A win over Covington would help the Irishman not only break into the top 5 but also into the top rungs of the title ladder.

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While Covington said that he was looking to fight on UFC 303, he was conspicuously silent about Garry and his challenge, despite all the hype. This is surprising given that he relishes every opportunity he gets to trash-talk other fighters to build up his fights. This may be an indication that ‘Chaos’ has decided not to fight Garry, after all. He did, however, give one indication of who he wants to face in the not-too-distant future.

Colby Covington wants to fight Edwards again

Covington’s last UFC outing against champion Leon Edwards at UFC 296 ended in a unanimous decision loss for ‘Chaos’. After the contentious build-up to their fight, sparks were expected to fly in their welterweight title bout. However, Covington’s underwhelming performance and a clinical performance from ‘Rocky’ ensured it was a one-sided affair.

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Covington has claimed the performance came about as a result of a broken foot he suffered in the opening round of the fight and is determined to get back into title contention, and another shot at Edwards. “I got unfinished business with my last fight. You know, Leon Edwards, the guy that has the title right now. I broke my foot in the first five seconds of the fight, it broke in three different places. So that wasn’t me that night. So whoever I have to go through to get back,” Covington said.

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What do you think about Covington’s comments? Who do you think will be his next opponent? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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Written by:

Kanishk Thakur

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Kanishk Thakur is a UFC writer at EssentiallySports with nearly 5 years of professional writing experience. Kanishk has expertly covered the heated rivalries of the fight game, and delivered meticulous reports of payouts of PPV events and Fight Nights, in addition to covering the personal side of fighters outside the sport. He is also an ardent Joe Rogan fan, who hopes to draw in more fans to the sport as Rogan did for him.
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Edited by:

Sakshi Jain