Colby Covington has picked another fight he doesn’t have to show up for. MMA Sucka reported that Covington went after Khamzat Chimaev ahead of RAF Abu Dhabi, calling him a dirty dog in what the outlet described as a verbal tirade. Few people in the sport get under skin the way Covington does, and Chimaev is a big, obvious target for a man who has built a career on insults.
Covington didn’t stop at Chimaev. In comments captured by Farah Hannoun and shared by MMA Junkie on X, he argued that Carlos Prates vs. Michael Morales, now booked for the interim welterweight title at UFC 336, doesn’t deserve a belt attached to it. “What have those guys done? Michael Morales has fought nobody,” Covington said. He also stood up for Islam Makhachev’s choices, and MMA Fighting has reported that Makhachev won’t be competing at UFC 336, the gap that opened the door for an interim title in the first place.
The timing tracks. Abu Dhabi has been the center of the fight calendar for a couple of weeks now. UFC 333 played out there and ended with Alexander Volkanovski and Petr Yan leaving as champions, a card MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck called one of the best the UFC has put on in 2026. Then came RAF 14, where Chimaev and Arman Tsarukyan both posted dominant wins, according to MMA Fighting’s Between the Links panel. UFC 336 is also set to feature Joshua Van vs. Manel Kape alongside the Prates vs. Morales interim fight.
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While Covington was throwing insults, the internet was having a gentler moment with the same circle of fighters. A clip posted by Championship Rounds and Happy Punch showed a man walking up to Tsarukyan and mistaking him for Chimaev. Then Championship Rounds posted a follow-up, because the same guy apparently ran into Tsarukyan a second time. Tsarukyan’s reaction made the rounds on its own, and it was a lot more fun than anything said into a microphone this week.
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My take: the dirty dog line is Covington doing what Covington always does, and I’m not going to pretend a name-call tells us anything about Chimaev as a fighter or a person. Reducing people to a single nasty phrase is the cheapest move in the trash-talk handbook. The Morales line is a different animal, though. Interim titles get handed out quickly in this sport, and asking what a fighter has actually done before he fights for one is a fair question, even coming from Covington. Prates and Morales can answer it at UFC 336, which is more than any name-calling will ever have to do.
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