Colby Covington: 'The World Has Something Special Coming'

Covington, on the prelim portion of the FOX-televised card, shut Barberena out over three rounds, but the victory and his 6-1 UFC record weren’t enough to raise the buzz. That started when he began to let more than his fighting do the talking, and four wins over Dong Hyun Kim, Demian Maia, Rafael Dos Anjos and Robbie Lawler, along with plenty of incendiary interviews, netted him an interim welterweight title, took him to star status and suddenly he was where he always wanted to be – at the top of the division, fighting the best in the world.

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That’s seven years of work, but to Covington it doesn’t feel that long.

“Talking about it, it feels like it was yesterday,” I was watching the fight that Barberena had with (UFC welterweight champion) Leon (Edwards) and he (Barberena) dropped him with the uppercut and he should have finished him. Leon barely escaped that fight, and that's a guy I dominated for 15 minutes straight. It wasn't even close. There were no if, ands, or buts of who won that fight. Everybody knew I just completely dominated Barberena. And if you look at the tape of how Leon fought him, it wasn't like that. It was a fight where it was a toss-up, and he almost got finished that fight. So Brian was a tough guy, and he was the guy that launched me to where I'm at today.”

“Today” is mere days away from his fourth world championship fight on Saturday in Las Vegas. The man in the other corner is Edwards, owner of not just the 170-pound crown, but two consecutive wins over the man to beat Covington in his last two shots at the belt, Kamaru Usman. If we’re doing MMA math, that, along with a 21-month layoff for the challenger, would point to a win for Edwards, but those equations rarely work out, and Covington is as confident as ever, but not overly so.

“It's just the work I put in every day, and I take every fight as if it's the toughest fight of my life and I'm fighting some superhuman person,” he said. “So I've never been overconfident with any fight because I realize fights are unpredictable. You could be absolutely prepared and anything could happen. You could have a bad night, you could slip on a banana peel, weird things could happen in that cage. So I'm definitely not overconfident, but I feel great and I'm excited for the challenge. And all the people that are doubting me that think that he can beat me, I can't wait to prove them all wrong.”

In his close decision losses to Usman, Covington made believers out of the doubters and cemented their newfound faith when he defeated Tyson Woodley and Jorge Masvidal. And while some have jumped off the bandwagon on the road to the UFC 296 main event, “Chaos” isn’t concerned.

“I think the biggest thing for me is not getting caught up in the hype, and not letting people around me hype me up too much and say I'm invincible,” he said. “I stay grounded and remember where I came from when I had nothing, and I was poor, and I had to fight for everything that I have in my career. I think the hunger and that motivation is just going to be overwhelming for Leon and he's not going to be able to deal with it. He's had a great run of fights with the right timing. I think the last fight that he fought with Usman, that's a guy that's not hungry anymore, that’s like, ‘Hey, I'm just showing up for a paycheck.’ He's not in his prime like when I fought him a couple years ago. But Edwards doesn't know what he has coming for him, and I think he's probably over-hyped. He thinks he's invincible now as the champion, and that's what's going to be his downfall on December 16th.”

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Nothing wavers in the tone of Covington’s voice as he speaks about the biggest fight of his career. Yet, at 35, and having lost his last two title fights, the odds of another one should he lose to Edwards on Saturday are slim. That’s not on his mind, though. He’s only thinking about winning. And getting on a plane with a new belt in his carry-on bag, right?

“Well, first off, I'm not going to have a carry-on because I'm not coming back commercial,” said Covington. “After I win the undisputed world title, I'm coming back on a private jet, baby. So when I wake up December 17th as undisputed world champion, it will be 35 years of sacrifice, dedication, discipline, and just a belief in myself when no one else believed in me. I believed in myself, and I worked every single day. I knew I was going to be in this position and this time was going to come. And here we are, days out from December 16th and my undisputed title fight, but you're not going to see me jumping up, screaming, crying. I expect to win and I know I'm going to win that fight. So it's just going to be another day at the office for Colby ‘Chaos’ Covington. And I'm getting that undisputed title, and I'm going to put it around Donald Trump's waist.”

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Not even one tear?

“No, I'm not one to cry or have tears,” he laughs. “So, if anything, hopefully the people around me will be crying. That'll give me goosebumps, but no tears. I expect to win this fight in convincing fashion, and I've done everything in my power to make sure that I'm at my peak. I'm in my prime right now, I feel better than I've ever felt in my career, so December 16th, on pay-per-view, the world has something special coming.”