Colby Covington Brutally Honest on Shavkat Rakhmonov: ‘He Hasn’t Fought Anybody'

Former interim champ Colby Covington gives his take on Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Ian Machado Garry.

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Colby Covington claims Shavkat Rakhmonov is ducking him - not the other way around.

Shavkat Rakhmonov Reveals 3 Fighters He Was Offered at UFC 310

Another week, another welterweight main event as Covington and Joaquin Buckley go head-to-head for a scheduled five rounds at UFC Tampa. Covington, the former interim champion, returns after a year away to remind the world he's still a title contender despite three failed attempts to take the throne.

Belal Muhammad's next title challenger won't come out of UFC Tampa but UFC 310. Last weekend, Rakhmonov improved to 19-0 over Covington's heated rival Garry, taking three rounds to two in a high-level technical affair.

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Covington Rips 'Boring' UFC Title Eliminator

It's safe to say Covington was not impressed by either man's performance.

"I heard it was a boring fight between the c*ck and s*** rat," Covington said of Rakhmonov vs Garry on Twitch. "Just a stalemate, just didn't want to fight. That's not what the UFC is all about and that's why their stock dropped. No one gives a s*** about them. They were already irrelevant, but now they're even more irrelevant."

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"[Shavkat] Is Ducking Me..."

Now en route to the title, Rakhmonov has previously said the UFC offered him three names, one Kamaru Usman and the other Colby Covington, claiming "Chaos" also declined to fight him on short notice.

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Covington says otherwise.

"S*** rat is ducking me. I called UFC, Hunter Campbell and Dana White to fight s*** rat. That's the only fight I wanted, to fight him. I didn't care about anybody else and they said they want to do the c*** fight. Undefeated vs. undefeated because it made sense to them. Once I volunteered to fight s*** rat, then they said, 'Hey, if you want to fight, come save the day against Buckley,' so then I had to come in and fight him.

"He does nothing for my career," Covington said of his next opponent, Joaquin Buckley. "But s*** rat [would do] something because he had all this hype on him like he's unbeatable.

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Covington Insists Rakhmonov Hasn't Fought A Legit Contender

Rakhmonov's 19-0 record includes wins over Neil Magny, Geoff Neal, Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson, and the #7-ranked Garry. These are three more ranked wins than Covington's zero, but the American would be quick to nitpick Rakhmonov regardless.

"He hasn't fought anybody. He hasn't fought a top 5 contender," Covington added. "He hasn't fought a legitimate contender and player in the welterweight division.

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"That's the fight I wanted. Unfortunately, it didn't come together, but it's okay. I can go end Buckley's win streak this weekend and get right back in the title picture."

Colby Covington Names the One UFC Opponent He Hates the Most

Colby Covington is 2-3 in his last five, although those three losses were all to champions Kamaru Usman (twice) and Leon Edwards, his most recent fight being at UFC 296 last December.

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