Henry Cejudo explains why he would “lean towards” Colby Covington in a five-round fight with Khamzat Chimaev

Henry Cejudo is explaining why he would ‘lean towards’ Colby Covington in a five-round fight with Khamzat Chimaev.

The undefeated Chimaev (12-0 MMA) most recently met Kevin Holland (23-8 MMA) in the Octagon this past September at UFC 279. The victory for ‘Borz’ came after a submission at 2:13 of round 1. Of course Chimaev was initially scheduled to fight Nate Diaz (21-13 MMA) that day, but couldn’t make weight, sending the promotion into a flurry of re-arranging fights for the event.

Dana White has expressed an interest in putting a fight together between Chimaev and former title challenger Colby Covington (17-3MMA), yet there is no confirmation from the UFC that this will take place.

Covington most recently met up with and defeated Jorge Masvidal (35-16 MMA) in March of this year at UFC 272.

In speaking on his YouTube channel, Henry Cejudo weighed in on a Chimaev vs Covington scenario (h/t MMAJunkie):

“I think he’s (Covington) the more experienced fighter. He’s wrestled a lot longer than Khamzat Chimaev. I think this is gonna be a good fight. I think it’s gonna come down to who’s recovered faster and quicker. And if this is a five-round fight, I almost want to lean towards Colby Covington because, as we saw in that Gilbert Burns fight with Khamzat Chimaev, I’m not sure if Chimaev could ever make 170 pounds.”

Continuing Cejudo said:

“If he could make the weight, my question is will Khamzat actually recover with the gas tank of this guy (Covington) who’s accustomed to making 170 pounds periodically.”

Concluding, speaking on the strength of ‘Chaos’, Cejudo said:

“What makes Colby Covington good is the fact that he has a gas tank. That’s what that is, his spirit of American-style wrestling with the gas tank that he has, and I think that’s what really makes Colby Covington dangerous.”

“His threshold is his biggest gift. This is where he beats people, his tenacity. When you fight and you wrestle, that’s when things actually get hard, and people are not accustomed to that. … I mean, the threshold to Colby Covington, I have to give this dirtbag a 10.”

Would you like to see Covington vs Chimaev in the near future? Do you agree with Cejudo that it could be ‘Chaos’ who has the ability to hand ‘Borz’ his first loss?

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