"Difficult to get into the ring as it is" - Chael Sonnen believes Colby Covington will only fight if UFC uses "great bargaining tool that a promoter has"

Chael Sonnen has an idea of what the UFC needs to do for Colby Covington to return to the octagon. Covington last fought in March, where he demolished Jorge Masvidal over five rounds.

Masvidal ultimately tracked down 'Chaos' at a Miami restaurant days after the fight and sucker punched him, leading to the former interim champion suing 'Gamebred.'

Five months later, Covington has no fight rumors at the moment. It's unsure whether that's because of injuries sustained by Masvidal or a lack of top contenders available.

Sonnen had this to say on his YouTube channel about what the UFC needs to do for him to return:

"Keep that theme and let's go and apply it to Colby Covington, who's difficult to get into the ring as is... Try to understand this from Colby's standpoint. How you gonna get him in the ring? You're probably going to tell him, and make a deal, that if you fight and you win, you become the no.1 contender."

Covington is currently the No.2 ranked UFC welterweight. The problem is that everyone in the top five is unavailable, other than Gilbert Burns. He recently said the former interim champion is rumored to be unavailable until 2023.

Watch Chael Sonnen discuss Colby Covington below:

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Gilbert Burns sparks bizarre rumors about Colby Covington not being able to return until March 2023

Burns was in the MMA headlines this week for sparking rumors about Covington's inability to return until 2023. During an interview with The AllStar, 'Durinho' had this to say when asked about potentially fighting 'Chaos:'

"The rumors [were] that he was very bad. He had a neck injury, the nerves were very bad – he lost a little bit of movement in his neck. He kinda broke his jaw again, he had surgery, and the surgery didn’t go well. He’s still doing the PT, he’s not training."

He added:

"If everything goes okay, he’s only back in March – that’s what I heard. I don’t know if it’s true, but I [heard] from guys that know him.”

UFC President Dana White went on to shoot these rumors down. In hindsight, a matchup between Burns and Covington should be easy to make if 'Chaos' is healthy. Only time will tell if the former interim champion returns before 2023.

Watch Gilbert Burns discuss Colby Covington and more below: