Colby Covington Wants a Fight with Dong Hyun Kim

Colby Covington spoke with MMAjunkie about his win over Max Griffin at UFC 202 and more. Some highlights are below:

On his win over Griffin: “It was satisfying, but it was not a big deal. He’s not a big name or anything, so I don’t take a lot of pride in it. I expected to finish him, That’s why I told everybody in the media, ‘Hey, I’m going to finish him.’ I told (UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva, ‘I’m going to finish him, and I want a slot on UFC Portland (UFC Fight Night 96 on Oct. 1), my home.’ And that’s what I did. So that’s I wanted, to make sure I proved a point. I’m confident, because we were telling Joe Silva every day, ‘You know, we want a slot on there. We’re not overlooking this guy, but we’re confident we’re going to go through him flawlessly, and we want a slot there.’ I can bring a lot of people into that arena.”

On the win boosting his finances: “I’m not comfortable, but I’m a better position. I just fought in UFC Canada (UFC Fight Night 89), and I got a spinning back fist to a submission finish. I still have to pay taxes, and I still have a lot of college debt, but it’s helped out a lot. I just want to stay active, and that’s why I want to get back on UFC Portland.”

On his loss at UFC 194 due to fighting with a rib injury: “I extremely regret it. I took the cortisone shots, and I thought that we could do it. But we didn’t train. We didn’t even warm up backstage. We just walked out to the fight. We thought that with my heart we were going to win, because I’d been through fights where I broke my hand and won. That’s just being stubborn. I’ve learned a tough lesson, but it’s only going to help me going forward. I did get a fire lit under my ass.”

On his next fight: “Anybody ranked – Don Hyun Kim, I’d love to get him. I’ve been talking about him for a while. I wanted Demian Maia. That’s probably a big jump up. I’m not going to jump that far. I haven’t beat a big enough name to get someone like that. But Kim is fair. Gunnar Nelson, someone like that.”