Colby Covington issues surprising praise to Islam Makhachev following UFC 322

UFC welterweight Colby Covington has praised champion Islam Makhachev following the latter’s victory in the main event of UFC 322.

At UFC 322, Islam Makhachev was able to defeat Jack Della Maddalena to become the new UFC welterweight champion. In doing so, he became a two-weight UFC champion, something which very few other fighters have been able to do. Now, many are wondering what’s next for him.

RELATED: Kamaru Usman compares Islam Makhachev to Colby Covington in UFC 322 post-fight reaction

At the same time, it’s also nice to sit back and reflect on Makhachev’s journey to the top. He has been pretty much unstoppable over the course of the last 16 fights, and if he wins his next one, he will break the record for the longest win streak in the history of the promotion.

Even Colby Covington, who is well known for his trolling abilities, recently took the time to praise Makhachev for what he’s been able to achieve.

Covington praises Makhachev following UFC 322

“No, I didn’t see it coming,” Covington told The Schmo on Makhachev beating Della Maddalena. “I thought he was the bigger guy and he would be able to overpower Makhachev, but hat’s off to him. He implemented his game plan and was able to really just control the fight the whole time.”

“You’re going to have to stuff his takedowns and make him work like (Alexander) Volkanovski did in that first fight,” Covington said on how to beat Makhachev. “You just stuff the takedowns and brawl with him. I think Topuria is the perfect fight for him. I think that fight needs to happen.

“Topuria has a low center of gravity so he’s going to be very hard to take down, and when he’s not taking him down, he’s going to be punching him with all he’s got. I’m hoping the UFC makes that fight next. I don’t want to see Ilia going all the way to 170 – it’s tough. He’s going to be giving up such a size advantage, but we’ll see. I think ’55 makes the most sense.”

Quotes via MMA Junkie