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Following Ian Machado Garry’s UFC 298 win over Geoff Neal on Feb. 17, he called out former three-time title challenger Colby Covington.  Weeks later, Covington responded.  

In a video posted to Instagram, Covington responded to the callout by attacking Garry’s wife and giving stipulations for the fight to happen.

“Let me teach you all a lesson about how you bait someone. Ian Garry, you translucent cuck, you wanted my attention, now you got it,” Covington said in the video.  “Everybody knows why you want to fight me, Ian. I’m the biggest star in the division. It’s big city, bright lights, and the most attention and eyes you’re ever gonna have on you when I fight. But, everybody knows Ian you missed your chance, you had your chance in December to step on the same stage as me and have a microphone and say whatever you want to say to me.”

“But, you were scared, you were scared of what I was going to say to you and you got the sniffles and you cried your way out. That was just a taste of what I could do to you, Ian. All I did was ask the five thousand people in attendance, how many people banged your wife? It’s not my fault that every single one of them raised their hand. If you are scared of that Ian, if you are scared of words, what do you think it’s going to be like when you step in the steel cage with Chaos.”

Covington gave three stipulations for the fight to happen.   

Get on your knees and beg @iangarryMMA @Laylaloves @ufc pic.twitter.com/1w3CzAriB0

— Colby Covington (@ColbyCovMMA) March 13, 2024

“Everybody knows what’s in it for you, Ian, but what’s in it for me? Why do I have to go down in the rankings and fight some Casper-The-Ghost looking Irish kid who has a gold-digging wife? Let me teach you the art of a deal, Ian. Let’s come to a compromise. If you can meet these three stipulations, we got a fight. Stipulation one, you and the gold-digging w***e got to turn your Instagram comments back on, and if you turn them back off before the fight, you forfeit the fight. If you turn them off during fight week or after I beat your ass, you forfeit your purse. Stipulation number two, Ian we have heard you cry and beg on your knees, but we all now you aren’t the boss and you don’t wear the pants in your relationship,” Covington said.  

“Layla, you got 60 seconds to convince me and the people why this fight needs to happen. So, put your husband in the corner, get on your hands and knees and beg. Now, for stipulation number three, my personal favorite. As you all may have noticed, something has been missing from my MyBookie promos lately, that’s because I’ve been saving that spot for a special someone. Layla, you want to be a star? You want the spotlight, I got it for you, sweetie,” Covington continued.  

Garry is undefeated (14-0) and ranked seventh in the 170-pound division.  Covington (17-4) lost to champion Leon Edwards in his last outing.  He’s ranked fourth but has lost three of his last fight fights.  

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UFC

We knew the UFC 300 fan Q&A was bad … just not this bad.

Former PFL champion Kayla Harrison took the stage late last week alongside a handle of UFC 300 fighters, including teammate Arman Tsarukyan, while bottom-feeding MMA fans tried to make themselves famous by asking the most idiotic questions imaginable.

As one commenter wrote on social media, “Welcome to UFC.”

“At one point there was a fan who came up and spoke to Arman in Russian,” Harrison said on The MMA Hour. “Arman was getting booed the whole time, and we’ve talked about it and we’re fine. The guy asked him basically how many times would … he asked a really inappropriate question about me. Arman answered it, and I looked like an idiot. I’m up on stage laughing and Megan Olivi says ‘Would you care to translate it?’ and Arman was like ‘No, it was a stupid question, move on.’ Then the next day I’m tagged in all of these Russian outlets with the translation of what he asked.”

The translation, according to those familiar with the dialect, was “how many sticks would you throw at her” — to which Arman responded “a few.”

“It’s disheartening,” Harrison continued. “I think it’s disrespectful. I’m a two-time Olympic champion. I’m a world champion, I’m a mother, I’m an advocate for survivors of sexual abuse, I wrote a book, I have a foundation. So in that sense it was disrespectful that someone would even ask that question, but more than that, you would never hear a female get asked ‘how many times would you have sex with Alex Pereira?’ We don’t sexualize men like that. So it was disheartening.”

Harrison, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, is survivor of sexual abuse.

“At first I was super embarrassed and like shocked by it,” Harrison said. “But then I was like you know what, f*ck it, I’m just going to keep being me and I’m going to say something about it when the time is right, because I feel like that’s wrong. And I want to change the landscape of the sport not just for me but for future female fighters. It was on International Women’s Day to boot. Arman and I spoke about it. Arman and I are okay. We spoke about it, we’re good. There’s no issue with Arman. This is my point, that is wild, that that even happened.”

Harrison, 33, will make her Octagon debut opposite Holly Holm as part of the UFC 300 pay-per-view (PPV) event on Sat., April 13, 2024 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. A victory is likely to put her in the conversation for the next 135-pound title shot.

Assuming she can maintain the weight.

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Shortly before a series of brain-rattling punches removed him from consciousness, Francis Ngannou switched from traditional to orthodox stance in his boxing match against Anthony Joshua.

Joshua’s coach, Ben Davison, said the former boxing champion was ready for this move. It had already been scouted from watching Ngannou in MMA, where stance switches are far more common than high-level boxing.

“We knew he would struggle to defend if AJ did a couple of things beforehand to set a certain scenario up, he’s struggle to defend the right hand from southpaw stance, and that’s what happened,” Davison said Wednesday on The MMA Hour. “I just think it was a mistake on his behalf, but I understand … he’s done that throughout his career as well.”

Davison already had footage to review from Ngannou’s stunning near-upset of Tyson Fury this past October. But he didn’t shy away from taking cues from the ex-UFC champ’s octagon days. Everything was fair game for setting up the right hands that rocketed through Ngannou’s guard.

Joshua and his team said they took Ngannou very seriously, and in doing so they were able to leverage the ex-UFC champ’s lack of experience against him.

“I just felt like that was the key, creating situations where he wouldn’t see the punches, taking his mind elsewhere before hitting him with something else,” Davison said. “That was the key, making sure he was reacting to something while being made to pay for something else. I feel like AJ did a good job with that.”

Ngannou had never before been knocked out, much less hurt badly, in the octagon or squared circle. Naturally, skeptics questioned afterward whether Ngannou’s toughness was really a facade. But Davison said the knockout was the result of an unsurvivable event.

“I don’t think Francis doesn’t have a chin, but I don’t think it had ever been tested properly to the extent that people were claiming it to be,” he said. “I think he is very tough, he’s known for the MMA world, and he showed that in the Tyson Fury fight, as well. I just think no matter how good your chin is, when you’re getting hit with punches that you can’t see by somebody like Anthony Joshua, no chin’s going to hold up against that.”

The natural question for many combat sports observers now is whether Ngannou’s boxing experiment is over. Though the ex-UFC champ went the distance with boxing champ Tyson Fury, he is now 0-2 with a brutal knockout loss in his most recent outing. Matchups against fighters such as Deontay Wilder, which seemed within reach before the knockout, could well be off the table.

Davison believes it’s a bit unfair to write off Ngannou. Even with the result, he saw vast improvements in the ex-champ’s stance and footwork. While it’s clear Ngannou bit off more than he could chew in his second fight, the coach sees more manageable challenges in the future.

“You’ve got to think about who he went up against in his first couple of fights,” Davison said. “I think if he was to drop it down a level, I think even at the level he’s at … I think he’d be a handfull for anybody. And if I’m honest, when he came out in Round 1, I could see, and I haven’t spoken to his team, but I’m sure they’d say he made tremendous improvements from the first boxing match to the second. I know it doesn’t look that way because of the result, but I can assure you that’s what they’d say, because I could see it.”

And Davison agrees with Ngannou that if the fight was in the cage, it would be a different story. He can understand why critics would chafe a little bit more for the fighter risking everything in a different sport.

“If any of these guys step into the cage with [Ngannou], it’s game over,” Davison said. “They have one chance and one shot to land a clean shot, and if they don’t and he gets ahold of him, it’s over.

“I understand a big part of Francis’ game is his standup game, so therefore it makes a little bit more sense for him crossing over to boxing. … But I understand there must be a certain element of frustration knowing that if these guys were to go into the cage, he would be the one with the advantages.”

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Former undisputed middleweight champion, Sean Strickland insists he wants no part of the politics within the title picture at 185 pounds off the back of his UFC 297 loss to Dricus du Plessis earlier this year, however, claims he should be the next to stand opposite the former in an immediate title rematch.

Strickland, a former undisputed middleweight champion, headlined UFC 297 back in January in  Canada, suffering a close, split decision loss to newly-minted gold holder, du Plessis in the pair’s championship battle. 

Retaining the number one ranked at middleweight in the months since his loss, outspoken ex-champion, Strickland has been linked with a title-eliminator against another former gold holder, Robert Whittaker in Perth – potentially in August, however, has yet to be booked since his defeat to the South African. 

Sean Strickland stakes claim for UFC title rematch

Voicing his concern at a targeted title grudge match between du Plessis and would-be common-foe, Israel Adesanya later this year, Strickland argues that he should be the next challenger to the throne.

“You know I don’t care about fight politics or a belt but it makes me laugh they give Izzy (Israel Adesanya) a rematch to Alex (Pereira) after getting slept,” Sean Strickland posted on his official X account. “I lost a close decision that Dana (White) himself thought I won. Everyone did. The stats did. That needs to be run back.” 

Initially winning the title back in September of last year at UFC 293, Strickland turned in one of the biggest upset victories in Octagon memory in a one-sided unanimous decision win over the above-mentioned, Adesanya. 

Suffering a title loss to du Plessis in his immediate title fight defense, Strickland’s reign was lamented by former foe, Kamaru Usman, who admitted he regrets not moving to middleweight in search of a championship rematch with him.

Who wins in a title fight rematch: Dricus du Plessis or Sean Strickland?

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Do-or-die
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