MMA Fighting<\/a>, Michael Chiesa followed up on his callout of Covington, explaining why he called him out the way he did.<\/p>\n\u201cI don\u2019t know, I think it just jumped in my head,\u201d Chiesa said. \u201cMy manager had said something to me like, \u2018Who are you gonna call out after the fight? I think you should call for Colby with the election being done.\u2019 This was at the very beginning when I got to Fight Island and I was like, \u2018No, man. I\u2019m not even thinking about that.\u2019 I put zero thought into it because I wanted to be focused on Neil because he\u2019s a guy that you can\u2019t give any space. If I have one mental lapse with him that could snowball into something really big. So I maintained my focus on him.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe it was [Daniel Cormier] because last time I had the mic with him I did it,” Chiesa continued. “I don\u2019t know, it just felt right. And I know that\u2019s a tough fight for me. I see what people say, and I know what the reality is. There\u2019s a good chance that guy could beat me, but how am I going to try and become a world champion if I\u2019m not fighting the best guys? Every underdog has to be an underdog. I\u2019m not gonna be a favorite in all my fights. I wasn\u2019t even a favorite in this fight. Everyone\u2019s supposed to beat me. I feel like every time I fight I\u2019m an underdog. Whatever, I\u2019d rather fight the best guys and lay it on the line to get to my goals. I aimed big for that one. I thought it was pretty good; short, sweet, very concise.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we\u2019ll see what happens. If he gets the [Jorge] Masvidal fight, that\u2019s fine and dandy. Like I said, I\u2019m not fighting until July, big fights happening in this division and we\u2019ll see how they shake out.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Chiesa and Covington’s station in the welterweight top-10 alone makes this potential fight plenty alluring, Chiesa noted that there’s also an interesting storyline attached to the matchup.<\/p>\n
“There\u2019s a little storyline in a sense that he wrestled at Oregon State and one of his coaches was Kevin Roberts,” Chiesa said. “When I wrestled in high school\u2014I never went to college for wrestling, I wasn\u2019t even that good in high school\u2014my head coach was Dusty Roberts, Kevin\u2019s brother. So there\u2019s kind of this Northwest connection in a sense that would get the wrestling community between Washington and Oregon very invested, and I\u2019m all about the wrestling community. I think it would make some waves.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s find out who the toughest welterweight in the Pacific Northwest is,” Chiesa added.<\/p>\n
Despite his interest in fighting Covington, Chiesa isn’t too hung up on the matchup. If Covington fights somebody else, like Masvidal, Chiesa would be willing to lock horns with\u00a0 Thompson, a man he respects.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s such a good guy, and he\u2019s a hell of a fighter,\u201d Chiesa said of Thompson. \u201cThat would be a fun fight for sure. If the Colby fight falls through then may the nicest mother f\u2019er win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Who do you want to see Michael Chiesa fight next?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Surging UFC welterweight contender Michael Chiesa is still hoping to fight Colby Covington next, but he’d also be up for a fight with Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. Chiesa last fought at UFC Fight Island 8 in January, when he picked up an impressive decision victory over Neil Magny. After that fight, he set his sights on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":374476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10290,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Michael Chiesa still hoping for Colby Covington fight, also up for matchup with "Wonderboy" | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Surging UFC welterweigh Michael Chiesa is still hoping to fight Colby Covington next, but he'd also be up for a fight with Stephen Thompson.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Michael Chiesa still hoping for Colby Covington fight, also up for matchup with "Wonderboy" | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Surging UFC welterweigh Michael Chiesa is still hoping to fight Colby Covington next, but he'd also be up for a fight with Stephen Thompson.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-02T17:34:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Michael-Chiesa-4.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\"},\"headline\":\"Michael Chiesa still hoping for Colby Covington fight, also up for matchup with “Wonderboy”\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-02T17:34:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-02T17:34:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/\"},\"wordCount\":655,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Michael Chiesa\",\"UFC\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2021\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/\",\"name\":\"Michael Chiesa still hoping for Colby Covington fight, also up for matchup with \\\"Wonderboy\\\" | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-02T17:34:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-02T17:34:43+00:00\",\"description\":\"Surging UFC welterweigh Michael Chiesa is still hoping to fight Colby Covington next, but he'd also be up for a fight with Stephen Thompson.\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"UFC\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Michael Chiesa still hoping for Colby Covington fight, also up for matchup with “Wonderboy”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":148,\"caption\":\"| BJPenn.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\",\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"description\":\"Tom Taylor is a globetrotting writer currently based in Ottawa, Canada. He is a staff writer for BJPenn.com, and also covers mixed martial arts for Fightland and Vice Sports. Follow him on Twitter @TomTayMMA.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/tom-taylor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Michael Chiesa still hoping for Colby Covington fight, also up for matchup with \"Wonderboy\" | BJPenn.com","description":"Surging UFC welterweigh Michael Chiesa is still hoping to fight Colby Covington next, but he'd also be up for a fight with Stephen Thompson.\u00a0","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Michael Chiesa still hoping for Colby Covington fight, also up for matchup with \"Wonderboy\" | BJPenn.com","og_description":"Surging UFC welterweigh Michael Chiesa is still hoping to fight Colby Covington next, but he'd also be up for a fight with Stephen Thompson.\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/","og_site_name":"| BJPenn.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","article_published_time":"2021-02-02T17:34:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":399,"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Michael-Chiesa-4.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Tom Taylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_site":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tom Taylor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/"},"author":{"name":"Tom Taylor","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87"},"headline":"Michael Chiesa still hoping for Colby Covington fight, also up for matchup with “Wonderboy”","datePublished":"2021-02-02T17:34:43+00:00","dateModified":"2021-02-02T17:34:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/"},"wordCount":655,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Michael Chiesa","UFC"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2021","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/","name":"Michael Chiesa still hoping for Colby Covington fight, also up for matchup with \"Wonderboy\" | BJPenn.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-02-02T17:34:43+00:00","dateModified":"2021-02-02T17:34:43+00:00","description":"Surging UFC welterweigh Michael Chiesa is still hoping to fight Colby Covington next, but he'd also be up for a fight with Stephen Thompson.\u00a0","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chiesa-still-hoping-for-colby-covington-fight-also-up-for-matchup-with-wonderboy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MMA News","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"UFC","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Michael Chiesa still hoping for Colby Covington fight, also up for matchup with “Wonderboy”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","name":"| BJPenn.com","description":"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization","name":"| BJPenn.com","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","width":600,"height":148,"caption":"| BJPenn.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87","name":"Tom Taylor","description":"Tom Taylor is a globetrotting writer currently based in Ottawa, Canada. He is a staff writer for BJPenn.com, and also covers mixed martial arts for Fightland and Vice Sports. Follow him on Twitter @TomTayMMA.","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/tom-taylor\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374984"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54430"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}