Colby Covington says Islam Makhachev's retirement talk is 'probably a negotiation tactic'

Covington told Submission Radio the UFC welterweight champion "might not even ever fight again", and wondered aloud about "crazy demands" of "$15, $20, $30 million".

Colby Covington thinks money is behind Islam Makhachev's retirement talk, and says the UFC welterweight champion "might not even ever fight again".

Makhachev wrote on X that his next fight "is one of the last in my career". Asked about it by Submission Radio, Covington said: "When you say a comment like that and you're half foot out, half foot in ... you probably should just leave now. You shouldn't come back to the Octagon. Like, your heart's already set on retiring."

"So I don't know. I don't know if we ever see Islam ever again," he said. "Honestly, that's probably a negotiation tactic."

Covington then spelled out the pitch he imagines Makhachev making to the UFC: "The next one's going to be the last retirement, but if you don't give me enough money, I'll just retire early."

Earlier in the interview, he floated a figure on what might be going on behind the scenes, while stressing he did not know. "I don't know what his discussions have been like with Hunter Campbell," Covington said. "Maybe he's being hard to deal with with Hunter and he, he's making crazy demands - $15, $20, $30 million. Who knows?"

The comments cut across Covington's defence of the champion, which he repeated here. "He just fought, and I think he should get a little bit more time," he said of Makhachev, who beat Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330 in August. Makhachev said earlier this year he would fight only three more times.

Others have been less kind. Carlos Prates says Makhachev "chickened out" of defending the title against him, and now faces Michael Morales for the interim belt at UFC 336 on 30 January.

Covington, who meets Khamzat Chimaev at RAF Abu Dhabi on 14 November, also said he would "love that opportunity to wrestle against Islam" and offered him a $100,000 padel match for charity.

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