Colby Covington has started the year by teasing the possibility of a move up to middleweight and interest in fighting Sean Strickland, but Michael Bisping doesn’t believe it’s going to happen.
“Colby Covington vs. Sean Strickland…first of all, Colby’s too small, simple as that,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel.
For the record, Covington stands 5ft 11″ with a 72″ reach and tends to fight close to his natural weight, so he doesn’t have to shed many pounds to make the welterweight limit. In fact he’s claimed he could make lightweight, but has opted not to because he doesn’t believe it would be healthy to do so.
By way of comparison, Strickland stands 6ft 1″ with a 76″ reach, and though he has fought at 170lbs in the past, he briefly held the 185lb title and has also fought as high as 205lbs.
“Colby Covington, I don’t think he’s going to be fighting Sean Strickland anytime soon,” Bisping continued. “I mean, for example, if Strickland goes out there and beats Dricus Du Plessis, there’s no way. There’s no way in hell that Colby moves up to 185 and gets an immediate title fight.
“We know he’s used to getting a lot of title fights. He fought Kamaru Usman, right? He lost in Round 5. Then he beats Tyron Woodley, then he fights Kamaru Usman again. He beats Jorge Masvidal, and then he gets a title shot again, right? You’ve had three title fights at 170. You ain’t going to walk into a title fight in your inaugural fight at 185 pounds.”
Adding to Bisping’s argument, the soon-to-be 37-year-old has only won two of his last six fights, so while he is still a fighter who has name-value in the sport, his ability to call the shots in terms of who he fights next is diminishing to an extent when it comes to potential title shot opportunities, though he would still land a high-profile match-up if he did opt to move up to 185lbs.
