Last Saturday night at UFC Vegas 11, Colby Covington (16-2) put on a clinic. He completely dominated Tyron Woodley for four rounds before an injury TKO called a stop to the action in the fifth and final round.
After the fight was over, Covington called out Jorge Masvidal and the UFC‘s welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman. Both of those guys have history with Covington. However, Covington did mention another name he’d be interested in on Saturday night.
Covington said that he would be interested in fighting Nick Diaz (26-9, 2 NC) in his next fight. There have been plenty of guys who have called out Nick Diaz since it was announced that he was planning his return to the UFC.
At first the callout caught me off guard, however, after thinking about it, the fight could make sense. Kamaru Usman is fighting Gilbert Burns. Jorge Masvidal is supposedly close to finalizing a fight with Nate Diaz. What other options are there in the UFC for Covington?
An interesting route for the UFC
“I would love to fight Nick,†Covington said in the post-fight press conference. “He’s a high-pressure fighter. I’d love to fight him and it would be an easy fight. I’d definitely retire him just like I retired Tyron Woodley. Nick Diaz would never fight again, I promise you, after I got done with him.â€
Fans would have to admit that it’s a very intriguing matchup. When Diaz does return to the UFC, we have no idea what Nick Diaz we will see. The man hasn’t fought in the UFC since 2015. In his last fight, he lost a decision to Anderson Silva. The fight was overturned to a no contest after Silva tested positive.
When he was in his prime, Diaz was one of the best welterweights in the UFC. He would break opponents with his incredible pace and pressure. In a lot of ways, he fights like Covington but with a different base.
Covington tries to suffocate opponents with pressure, but he leans heavy on his wrestling. However, Diaz would pressure his opponents and just keep touching them with light punches before he’d rip them with heavy shots as his opponents would start to fade.
With the lack of options, this could definitely be a fight the UFC could make. Leon Edwards is sitting there, but I don’t think Covington or Diaz have interest in fighting him. Edwards might be best suited to fight Wonderboy Thompson.
We don’t know if the UFC will actually entertain this idea, but it’s definitely something to watch. I know that I’d tune it for it.