Colby Covington is ready to bring back the champion vs. champion fights.

The gold rush of matchmaking title holders together has seemingly passed in the UFC outside of the occasional return as seen earlier this year between Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski. However, Makhachev is now eying his second, wanting his chance at capturing a second title. For that to happen, he’ll need to move up to the welterweight division, where he would ideally want to fight Covington.

“Chaos” can become the undisputed UFC welterweight champion by dethroning Leon Edwards at UFC 296 in Las Vegas this December. Easier said than done, Covington plans to make easy work of “Rocky” and goad lightweight’s finest into the matchup they’ve both started talking about in recent weeks.

“I’m setting up big business. Leon’s first and then it needs to be American wrestling vs. Dagestani wrestling,” Covington told Submission Radio. “Everybody wants to see that fight. Makhachev’s starting to run his mouth but we know his manager [Ali Abdelaziz] ‘Abdela-sleeze’ is not gonna let him get in my crosshairs. He can say whatever he wants to the media but he doesn’t really mean it. Makhachev knows I’d smack the s*** out of him. He would be able to mess with raw American steel. He’s nothing more than a sheep herder.”

By year’s end, we’ll have our answer to whether or not Makhachev vs. Covington can even be possible as both will need to be holding titles. While Covington has Edwards to worry about, Makhachev rematches Charles Oliveira in the UFC 294 main event in two weeks. As Makhachev’s winning streak expands, so does his star power, and after a second successful title defense, Covington can’t see how the pairing wouldn’t be a must-see.

“I think it would be the biggest and best spectacle the UFC could put on and that’s what we want to do; the biggest and best fights,” Covington said. “The guy definitely walks around at more weight than I do. I just choose to fight closer to my natural weight. I don’t want to cut all that weight to get the advantage. I’d like to see him come up and test himself.

“Him and the Dagestanis have been talking a big game. Him and Khabib for years were gonna come up, test themselves, go to a different weight class. Those are big guys cutting a lot of weight, getting that big cutting weight advantage, trying to be the stronger guy on fight night at lightweight and just overpower these guys.”

Covington’s third career undisputed title opportunity will be his first fight since March of last year when he earned a unanimous decision win over former best friend-turned-bitter rival, Jorge Masvidal. “Chaos” has been embroiled in a legal battle with “Gamebred” since, claiming to have suffered brain damage after allegedly being assaulted by Masvidal outside of a Miami steakhouse a few weeks after their fight. Covington’s willingness to fill in as the backup fighter for Edwards’ trilogy against Kamaru Usman at UFC 286 was seemingly all UFC President Dana White needed to put the fight together although Covington is 2-2 in his last four outings — the two losses being his title bids vs. the former champion Usman.

Middleweight has been a division Covington has teased challenging a champion in previously. Ultimately, the Oregonian prides himself in fighting at as close to his natural weight as he can, and he implores Makhachev to do the same.

“Come fight at your natural weight, come test yourself,” Covington said. “He’s talking a game like he wants to be No. 1 pound-for-pound, this is how you prove that. Come up here, let’s see if you’re pound-for-pound No. 1 by fighting a guy at your natural weight.

“He’s another guy that he’s gonna run his mouth, try and hype up a fight but he’s never gonna actually step up and do it, you know? Khabib did the same thing. They know that American wrestling is the best. That sambo s*** don’t work. He would get worked any day of the week in grappling or wrestling in America. He’s over there playing with sheep, doing his thing over there but that stuff doesn’t work. Yeah, it’s worked on the guys in the light weight class when you can just muscle them around. These are little kids, little boys and none of ‘em wrestled anyway. Now you got a real f****** American wrestler, raw American steel, the highest regard, he knows what would happen.”

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Transition. Patricio Pitbull explains how Bellator sale to PFL could lead him to UFC

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VIDEO STEW

Between the Links.

Bobby Green career retrospective.

Pyfer vs. Alhassan preview.

Free fight.

Crazy Bellator knockouts.

Le vs. Freymanov preview.

Disgusting knee carnage.

Fight Week Spotlight: Larissa Pacheco.

Rapid Rounds: Nina Nunes’ Invicta debut.

Sparmageddon.

Durinho’s back.

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LISTEN UP

DAMN! They Were Good. MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew, Mike Heck, and Alex K. Lee discuss Khabib Nurmagomedov and his place among the MMA pantheon.

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MORNING MUSIC

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Poster.

Lobby, please.

Hell’s chokehold.

That is not funny.

Throwback.

Clang.

Gold.

New mask.

Oh.

This just doesn’t look real.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Marcus McGhee (8-1) vs. Gastón Bolaños (7-3); UFC Vegas 83, Jan. 13

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FINAL THOUGHTS

A chaotic week is capped off with some potentially chaotic action despite maybe not being the noisiest of fight weeks. If you’re in San Diego for Bellator 300, come say hi on fight night!

Happy Friday. Have fun, be young. Thanks for reading!

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POLLAMANIA

Who wins tomorrow?

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If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @DrakeRiggs_ on Twitter and let him know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Instagram and like us on Facebook.