It’s been a year since Colby Covington has participated in an official UFC pre-fight press conference. As such, he had a few things to get off his chest Wednesday in Tampa, Florida ahead of his bout with Joaquin Buckley this weekend.

In a quirk of fate, Covington will step in for Ian Machado Garry on Saturday night against the surging welterweight contender Buckley after Garry was removed from the fight in order to take on Shavkat Rakhmonov at last weekend’s UFC 310 in Las Vegas.

This comes after Garry had repeatedly campaigned for a fight with the American former three-time title contender. However, speaking to the media (including The Mac Life), Covington said that a fight with Garry was impossible after the Irishman failed to accept his terms — or ‘stipulations’ — for the fight, which included Garry allowing comments on his social media channels and other matters regarding his family.

Jon Jones, the UFC heavyweight champion who was, once upon a time, a roommate of Covington’s at college, also caught some strays.

“Jon has some fruity tendencies,” Covington said. “This is not a joke, he knows deep down inside I know his dark hidden secrets. Jon Jones is a disgrace to this earth, he’s a f*cking joke, yeah he beat Stipe [Miocic]. Respect to Stipe first off, he’s a first responder… Shoutout to Stipe, he’s the greatest heavyweight of all time.

“I don’t think anything special of (Jones’) performance, I think Jon needs to stop ducking Tom Aspinall, just liked he ducked (Francis) Ngannou for years, he doesn’t want to fight the guys he knows he’s gonna get ass whooped against.”

And Covington, who was defeated by then-champion Leon Edwards in what was his third unsuccessful bid to gain the UFC’s welterweight title last December, says that a win over Buckley this Saturday night will likely ensure a path to another world title opportunity.

“My name’s always in title contention,” he said. “I’m the biggest name in the sport, there are no stars in the division. It’s a bunch of bums. I think after Saturday night, I’m next in line for the title.”