Khamzat Chimaev is set to take on Paulo Costa in his first-ever middleweight bout at UFC 294. He will return to the octagon after over a year of inactivity. However, welterweight star Colby Covington recently revealed that the UFC initially planned for him to fight the undefeated Swedish fighter in a recent interview.

Colby Covington finally has the timeline for his upcoming title fight against Leon Edwards. As such, he appeared in an interview with MMA journalist James Lynch to talk about his next fight when he revealed Khamzat Chimaev was supposed to fight before his move to the middleweight division. Let’s see what he had to say.

Colby Covington accused Khamzat Chimaev of running away from him

As James Lynch mentioned about Chimaev no longer being a part of the welterweight division, Covington took the opportunity to claim that ‘Borz’ was scared to fight him. That’s why he switched divisions and became a middleweight. She said, “Of course, he’s not in my division. He ran from me. That dog-faced looking motherf***er was scared sh*tless.”

Covington claimed that Khamzat Chimaev’s not wanting to fight him was one reason why he was inactive for almost half a year. He even added that the promotion was discussing the fight for almost a year. Covington further stated, “That’s the reason they took so long for me to get a fight. The UFC was trying to book that fight with me and him for like six months to a year.” The former interim champion also revealed how the initiative UFC took in the build-up to the planned fight between him and ‘Borz’.

‘Chaos’ ranted on Chimaev for his unprofessionalism

Colby Covington also revealed that the real reason the fight did not happen was because of Khamzat Chimaev’s unprofessional demeanor. Moreover, he stated that the UFC paired him up against veteran Nate Diaz to hype ‘Borz’ up for his eventual fight against ‘Chaos’. But again, Chimaev missed weight. Covington continued, “He’s not a professional. The guy couldn’t make weight. He missed weight by nine pounds [and] they give him a layup fight to lead up into the build-up of my fight with him. But he couldn’t even do that against the easiest washed-up in the division, Nate soy-boy Diaz.”

All in all, the 35-year-old welterweight stood his ground regarding the fact that he would have had no problems in defeating the undefeated Chimaev. That is the reason why ‘Borz’ went to the middleweight division, which Covington claims is an easier division. “I would have melted that motherf***er and he knows it. So of course, he’s going to run away from my division and look for the easier division in middleweight,” said the Miami native.

Read More: “I Feel Bad for His People”: After Vowing To Break Leon Edwards’ 8 Year Long Win Streak, Colby Covington Makes a Bold “Promise” to the UK MMA Fans

In the same interview, Covington also mentioned his interest in possibly moving up to the middleweight division in the future to fight Sean Strickland. If he does, we might finally get to witness a fight between him and Khamzat Chimaev as well. However, those plans do not look to be a possibility because, as of now, they both have their own fights coming up in some of the biggest events of the year. We will have to wait and see what unfolds in the future.

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