When UFC 230 took place at Madison Square Garden earlier this month a matchup between interim UFC welterweight champion Colby Covington and Nick Diaz had reportedly been in discussion for the main event. However, that fight never materialized and instead heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier put a whooping on Derrick Lewis in the headliner.
But a lot of fans were looking forward to the return of Nick Diaz who hasn’t fought since his No Contest (originally a unanimous decision loss) against Anderson Silva in 2015. And who better to welcome Diaz back to the octagon than the controversial and outspoken Covington? The trash talk would have likely reached epic proportions.
While the 170-pound interim champ Covington would have been willing to save the UFC 230 card in New York by facing Diaz then, he’s not someone on his radar and feels Diaz missed his opportunity. “No chance [I fight him],” Covington said on episode 104 of BJPENN Radio. “I wanna defend my belt, you know. The Nick Diaz fight, it was cool, I would’ve been willing to save The Garden and make The Garden great again. You know the Trump family would’ve came out to support, it would’ve been a spectacle. I would’ve made history there. But now, he’s been passed up. I’m not wasting my time on him, he’s irrelevant.”
Covington feels he has bigger fish to fry than the Stockton icon who is widely known for his love of marijuana. “He’s a jobber, he hasn’t won a fight in years,” Covington continued. “He’s definitely 209’s weakest… a bunch of those soy-boys over there in California, smoking that marijuana. So you know, he’s a joke. I don’t wanna waste my time anymore with guys like him, you know. Chumps.”
Diaz’s return is now expected to be against a training partner of Covington’s, Jorge Masvidal, at UFC 235 in March. And Covington has his sights set on unifying his interim welterweight title with the undisputed title currently held by Tyron Woodley. Maybe we’ll see Covington and Diaz throw down eventually, but for now a battle between these two will have to be settled on the interwebs and there are few who do it better online than Covington.