{"id":231866,"date":"2017-04-06T07:33:37","date_gmt":"2017-04-06T14:33:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=231866"},"modified":"2017-04-06T07:53:15","modified_gmt":"2017-04-06T14:53:15","slug":"colby-covington-matchmaker-sean-shelby-told-me-im-the-most-turned-down-fighter-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/colby-covington-matchmaker-sean-shelby-told-me-im-the-most-turned-down-fighter-right-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Colby Covington: Matchmaker Sean Shelby told me I’m ‘the most turned-down fighter’ right now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Riding high on a three-fight win-streak, rising welterweight Colby Covington has been looking for a step up in competition for some time. Unfortunately for him, finding a willing dance partner has proven incredibly difficult.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, after being turned down by former lightweight champ Rafael Dos Anjos<\/a>, he’s now been booked for a scrap with Dong Hyun Kim at UFC Fight Night Singapore this June. Finding a willing dance partner, however, was not easy.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday’s edition of BJ Penn Radio<\/a>, Covington elaborated on the difficulty he had getting someone to accept a fight with him.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve been trying to look for the big tests, the big challenges where there\u2019s a highly-ranked guy where maybe somebody thinks he\u2019s better than me or he\u2019s supposed to beat me, but I\u2019m going to rise to the occasion in my next fight,” he said.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re all turning down fights man,\u201d he continued. \u201cGuys like Rafael Dos Anjos, Ryan LaFlare, Matt Brown, Kamaru Usman, all these guys in the top-15 range, they\u2019re all scared man.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Covington then explained that he was recently told by UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby that he’s the most turned-down fighter in the welterweight division at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cSean Shelby, he went out there and he offered the fight to every single guy that was ranked, and almost every single guy that was ranked turned me down,” he said. “They said \u2018nope, I don\u2019t want that fight, I\u2019m not looking for that fight.”<\/em><\/p>\n

“Sean Shelby said I\u2019m the most turned-down fighter right now,” he continued.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From there, Covington admitted that, while it’s flattering to be turned-down by top-ranked welterweights,\u00a0all he ever wanted was a\u00a0big fight to prove how good he is. He’ll get this chance against Kim.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve trained with Robbie Lawler, I\u2019ve trained with Tyron Woodley,\u201d he said. \u201cThose guys know how good I am. You can ask them yourselves. It\u2019s cool that these guys are turning me down, but that\u2019s not going to help my career. I want a career-changing fight where we\u2019re not talking about Colby as a [prospect] anymore. This fight [with Kim], I\u2019m becoming a contender. A legit contender for the UFC welterweight title.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Do you think Colby Covington can take out Dong Hyun Kim? Sound off, PENN Nation!<\/p>\n

This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i>BJPenn.com<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0on 4\/6\/2017.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Riding high on a three-fight win-streak, rising welterweight Colby Covington has been looking for a step up in competition for some time. Unfortunately for him, finding a willing dance partner has proven incredibly difficult. Thankfully, after being turned down by former lightweight champ Rafael Dos Anjos, he’s now been booked for a scrap with Dong […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":145358,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[22188,2674],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nColby Covington: Matchmaker Sean Shelby told me I'm 'the most turned-down fighter' right now | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UFC welterweight Colby Covington is having a hard time getting a fight \u2013 so much so that Sean Shelby called him the division's 'most turned down' fighter.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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