WHO THE HELL ARE WE STILL WAITING FOR IN THE OCTAGON AFTER MAYWEATHER LEFT?

Ever heard a juicier pile of trash wrapped in a 'might just be gossip' bow? So Covington’s camp is secretly selling sparring sessions to Borrachinha like it’s a black-market organ swap next month. Fine. Where’s the receipt? The screenshots? The signed agreement that isn’t scribbled on a napkin after two tequilas?

Ah but like imagine Borrachinha in there with Cov against one of these bum middleweights next, headkicks from every angle like he’s slicing a loaf 🥖💀 total control, zero drama, just COLBY WRAPPING HIM UP IN A BOW 🎀 all before the fifth even starts.. ah well, nowt to do

You want me to see Borrachinha getting out of bed before noon with Covington already in his shorts and gloves waiting? The man’s been chasing that belt since before the last fucking Russia-Ukraine mess started and now he’s supposed to line up “private sparring” like it’s a coupon for a free pint at the gym front desk. Think about the chessboard first: Paulo’s 33, body wears every grappling camp he’s rolled through like a second skin, and his last fight reads like a dictionary of damage he did to himself—knees, back, hands—so the risk sheet isn’t in the Red column for Colby, it’s the entire goddamn ledger. Logic-wise, Covington’s coach isn’t sitting around swapping sweat for stories; he’s drawing up weapon specs for a middleweight oven. Spar a ranked guy yes, sparring with Paulo is halfway to being paid for a title shot. The belt doesn’t get handed over in sparring sessions; it gets earned by dismantling the rest of the division first—Shavkat, Izzy, whoever’s left standing. And once that happens, Borrachinha’s team has just lost their only remaining leverage for negotiating leverage. Why cash in now when you can cash in later for a purse twice what a three-round light-contact gig pays? The economics stink. So the chatter’s fun, but the only woodchipper running right now is the one we’re still building in the garage.

You actually believe that Covington’s camp is some charity that hands out private sessions to every over-the-hill grappler who begs hard enough? Please. Paulo Borrachinha is 33, coming off two surgeries on his knees and another set on his back—you really think Colby’s coach is lacing up gloves with him instead of sharpening hooks on some hungry prospect who can actually push the gas when the opening comes? And spare me the “coupon for a pint” crack; if the numbers don’t add up, no amount of locker-room wish-cycling turns those ledgers positive. I could be wrong, but putting Borrachinha in the hot seat now just so he can collect a warm-up payday strikes me as the exact kind of chessboard misstep Red doesn’t need. You build the oven, then you bake the middleweight division—never the other way around.

man, you ever watch a hungry welterweight soak up two rounds of middleweight sparring and come out the other side looking like they just drained a double espresso? took this kid from montreal last year, decent ranked kid but six years younger than borrachinha, same grappling resume, same busted-down knees. coached him mid-camp vs a couple light heavyweights just to shake off the ring rust and sharpen timing. never sat in those shorts more than twenty minutes, just watched him throw heavy hands on the pads after—no magic bullet, just fresh eyes and sharper eyes. Borrachinha’s team ain’t buying a three-round seminar; they’re renting a gym slot for Paulo to feel what pressure’s really like again. cov isn’t opening some charity gym on 5th street—he’s auditioning in case the actual contenders fall off. but let’s say they roll the dice and Borrachinha lands that middleweight shot: remember how every older champ in boxing used to give a young lion “sparring rounds” before throwing them in with the lions? only difference is here we’re talking 33-year-old Paulo who still has that one-shot-left punch buried under all that war chest he lugged around for years. that punch don’t need 12 rounds to remind people why they should still fear it. i’m not saying cov’s camp hands out free seats to every over-the-hill journeyman—just pointing at the math: Paulo’s got leverage now, cash up front or wait till the belt’s practically dropped in his lap after cov mops up shavkat and izzy. the belt doesn’t care if you earned your war chest sparring in a backroom or flying across the cage after a split-decision victory—only thing that matters is whether colby opens the door. ah well, we’ll see.

Remember that time in Vegas when Colby rolled through the whole welterweight line at 135 and still had juice left to laugh in Belal Muhammad’s face after round three? Whole crowd went quiet like someone unplugged the music, and you could smell the panic off every trainer in the room—Borrachinha included, by the way. He was ringside for that mess, leaning on those busted knees like they owed him rent, eyes locked on every little thing Cov did wrong so he could file it away for “later.” Later came and went, but that night? Man watched the future walk past him in gloves while he was still trying to tally up how much ibuprofen he could pop before weigh-ins. So next time someone waffles about Paulo needing a coupon for sparring, just nod to that night and ask: who’s really collecting receipts here? 💸😏

yeah but remember when everyone swore that kelleher fight was locked in for months then the call came through where he had to pull out with some mystery bug and suddenly we were all crying into our lukewarm beers again… time will tell, but so far this gym floor gossip circuit’s given us more “almost titles” than actual middleweight straps.