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Covington open to McGregor fight: 'I will melt him'

Josh Hedges / UFC / Getty

Colby Covington says he's willing to fighting Conor McGregor, but he doesn't think the former two-division champion would accept the matchup.

"He's not going to fight me, let's be honest," Covington told theScore. "He's not fighting a guy where he has a zero percent chance to win the fight ... We'll have to see how it plays out. I'll fight anybody - that's what real champions do."

Covington (15-2) is coming off a TKO loss to welterweight champion Kamaru Usman at UFC 245 in December. But the 31-year-old is so convinced he'd defeat McGregor that he says he'd be willing to abandon one of his greatest tools in a potential matchup.

"I would put in the contract I don't even need to wrestle him," Covington explained. "I won't even shoot one takedown down on you. You got beat up by Nate Diaz, that guy is a complete jobber, that guy is a Stockton soy boy.

"C'mon, Nate Diaz is a 50-50 fighter with like 15-20 losses on his record and you got melted by him ... I will melt him and break him on the feet. My cardio, pace, and pressure, no one can stand with that."

"Chaos" aims to return during the UFC's annual International Fight Week card, which typically takes place during the first week of July. The American Top Team product believes spectators will see the best version of him yet.

"I want to return International Fight Week in July. That's the perfect time frame for when I can get a full camp and be at my best," he said. "You saw me at my worst on Dec. 14. That was my absolute worst.

"I'm not going to make some excuses and tell you some other things because that's under the wrap and what my team knows about ... It doesn't matter who they put in front of me, they're getting knocked the f--- out."

Watch the full interview with Covington below and subscribe to theScoreMMA Youtube channel here.

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