Colby Covington will return to the Octagon in the main event of UFC Newark. On this card former interim champion will not be fighting for the welterweight title, as many expected. Instead, he is set to take on the former welterweight champion, Robbie Lawler.

It will no doubt be an exciting fight, which “Chaos” admits, but he also wanted this fight for another reason. He believes a win over “Ruthless” will improve his legacy even more, and make him the greatest welterweight of all time.

“I want a guy like Robbie who just moves my legacy up. It cements my legacy and it cements everything that I’ve worked for my whole life,” Covington said on BJPENN.com Radio. “It’s just going to boost everything I’ve worked for to this point. It’s just gonna make it tenfold better. So, this is the type of fight I’ve been looking for, a guy as dangerous as Robbie that you cannot slip, you cannot blink. Cause if you blink, you will wake up unconscious, you know? So, I’m just excited man. This guy just, he adds another guy like this to my resume. It shows my greatness and it really does show that I am the best welterweight in the world and the best welterweight of all time.”

Robbie Lawler has beaten the likes of Rory MacDonald, Donald Cerrone, Johnny Hendricks, and Carlos Condit among many others, which is why he is such a big name. As for Colby Covington, a win here would improve his record 15-1, and leave him with notable wins over Lawler, Rafael dos Anjos, and Demian Maia and others. Whether or not that makes him the greatest welterweight of all time is likely to generate some debate, but he believes it’s irrefutable.

Where do you think Colby Covington will stand amongst the best welterweights ever if he beats Robbie Lawler in Newark?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 7/9/2019.