Colby Covington has been warned that Israel Adesanya would brutally stop him if he decided to move up to middleweight for a world title opportunity.
The former interim welterweight is believed to be one of the best fighters in the world pound-for-pound, but looks unlikely to get a third shot at Kamaru Usman for the 170lb belt after two losses to the champion.
And he is considering a move up to middleweight, where he would sacrifice a great deal of size in exchange for a world title shot that likely won't be forthcoming at his own class, despite his dominance.
Covington's two losses since emerging as a legitimate contender have come at the hands of Usman, but he has beaten a number of other top fighters, most recently Jorge Masvidal on Saturday night.
But former Strikeforce world champion Josh Thomson has said that he believes a move up to middleweight would be a step too far for Covington, arguing that he would be "knocked the f*** out," in that prospective fight.
Thomson was speaking on his podcast Weighing In, which he co-hosts with fellow Bellator commentator and former referee John McCarthy.
And McCarthy believes that to earn a world title opportunity at the heavier weight, where Adesanya is a dominant defending champion, Covington would need a big win up there.
"He would have to go up and he would have to win in my opinion against a quality middleweight before they're ever going to think about putting him against Izzy," McCarthy added.
"They are not going to take him as a guy that lost twice to Usman and put him against the champion, that ain't going to happen."
Thomson noted that Covington would have his pick of top contenders at the new weight class, including controversial stars such as Paolo Costa or Sean Strickland.
Both he and McCarthy agreed that the trash talking between Covington and Strickland, renowned for his wacky antics in interviews and in the promotion of fights, could be fascinating.
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They also indicated that Covington could fight former world champion Luke Rockhold, who is back down at middleweight after a brutally unsuccessful effort to jump up to light heavyweight against Jan Balchowicz.
The discussion point comes after promotional boss Dana White noted at Saturday night's UFC 272 post-fight press conference that Covington may have other options at a different weight class after his two losses to Usman.
After his dominant five-round victory over Masvidal over the weekend, Covington called out former interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier for a grudge fight.
And the promotion are refusing to rule out a prospective trilogy between the brash Oregon native and Usman, despite his two relatively convincing losses in their previous meetings.
Usman landed a controversial stoppage in the pair's first fight back in December 2019, before the pair rematched at Madison Square Garden in November with the champion retaining by unanimous decision.
