After days of speculation, Colby Covington vs. Leon Edwards finally has a date. As announced by Dana White, Covington will challenge Edwards for the welterweight throne in the main event of UFC 296 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The bout will headline the last PPV event of the year in December 2023.

But before the UFC president confirmed this matchup, somebody had already revealed this plan a month before White’s words went public. And he predicted ‘these’ things with the precision of 2016 Conor McGregor. For those wondering, it’s none other than rising UFC star, Khamzat Chimaev!

Khamzat Chimaev predicted the welterweight title fight way before its confirmation

Long before Dana White confirmed Leon Edwards’ second title defense against Colby Covington, Khamzat Chimaev had already exposed this plan. In one of his videos uploaded to his YouTube channel, Chimaev alleged that the UFC intends to hand a championship fight to Colby Covington despite Covington not deserving it. ‘Borz’ cited the American’s lack of wins over any notable opponent and his two losses against former champion Kamaru Usman as the reasons behind his opinion.

In the same video, Chimaev also insisted that he deserves the title shot more than ‘Chaos.’ But according to him, the UFC wouldn’t give it to him due to his nationality. In Chimaev’s own words:“They gave that chance to him because maybe he’s from the USA, and they want the belt for him. I’m from Sweden, and I live in Dubai, so maybe they don’t want to give it back to me.”

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Although this kind of mudslinging, especially around a title fight, is nothing new, what makes this one special is how accurate Chimaev’s words were. The video was uploaded on May 23rd this year, while White recently gave the green signal to this clash. Apart from this prediction, the Swedish resident had also made severe allegations about the promotion of favoritism, a sentiment that his former opponent agreed upon.

Gilbert Burns echoes Khamzat Chimaev’s sentiments about Covington’s title shot

Just like Khamzat Chimaev, Brazilian MMA fighter Gilbert Burns also believes that Colby Covington does not deserve to fight for the title next. Burns expressed these views during one of his recent interviews with ‘Middle Easy.’ But just like his former rival, Burns too believes that the UFC is going to give the fight to Covington, anyway.

Former interim champion Colby Covington is widely regarded as one of the best welterweights of recent times. But the American has already lost twice in title fights during this time. He has also been quite inactive, fighting only once since his last loss to Usman at UFC 268. Although Chaos won his next fight, his opponent Jorge Masvidal was on a losing streak.

This is something that’s causing many to question the former NCAA wrestler’s title shot, with Gilbert Burns and Khamzat Chimaev being just two of the many voices raising concerns.

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