It may be a little while before Colby Covington returns to the Octagon, but when he’s healthy, UFC president Dana White has an opponent in mind for the controversial American Top Team standout.
Covington lost to Kamaru Usman via fifth-round technical knockout in the UFC 245 headliner on Saturday, and the man known as “Chaos” suffered a “non-displaced midline mandible fracture” during the action.
“I don’t have a problem with him. I don’t have a problem with Covington,” White said at the UFC 245 post-fight press conference. “I’d love to do him and [Tyron] Woodley next. That would be a fun fight, but if he has a broken jaw, he ain’t going to be around for a minute. After a war like this, he’s going to have to go rest, take care of himself for a while and then we’ll see what he wants to do.”
Covington appeared to be on a collision course with Woodley after capturing the interim welterweight crown with a decision win over Rafael dos Anjos in June 2018. However, Covington was unable to face Woodley, who was then the division’s reigning champion, that September, and the title shot was given to Darren Till instead.
Relations have been tense between Covington and White in recent months, but after UFC 245, the UFC boss claims he has no issues with the welterweight contender.
“Listen, I’ve dealt with his type a million times in the last 20 years,” White said about Covington. “You can tell he’s not happy that tonight did not go as he planned. He came out with a game plan, whatever the hell he had going on in his mind that he was going to do or whatever was going to happen and Usman stomped all over that. We’ll let this kid go back, heal up and figure out what’s next.”