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In Defense of Colby Covington

 

 

 

 

UFC 299 came and went. We talked about the fights, what the outcomes mean for each fighter, and what we want to see next with the new rankings. What people didn’t expect to see is Colby Covington, who didn’t fight, moved up one spot.

 

 

 

 

The amount of Colby hatred and smack talk I saw as a result has inspired me.. it is time to officially draw a line in the sand. I’ve seen enough Colby Covington slander, and I am here to make a case on why he deserves to be at the top of the welterweight division.

 

I’ve been defending Colby a while now, and I’ve seen the same old generic comments about him from fans. Here are the unoriginal takes I hear over and over, and why they are bullshit.

 

 

Colby Denier Stock Line #1:

“Colby isn’t good, he keeps getting gifted opportunities he doesn’t deserve”

 

Daniel Cormier Discusses Colby Covington

 

To be a great fighter at the top of the rankings, you should be elite at one thing at the very least… and good everywhere else. Colby is elite at wrestling, make no mistake about it. 

 

As an NCAA Division I All-American and a two-time Pac-10 champion as a collegiate wrestler, Colby has shown us his pedigree time and time again. In addition, he brings these other skills to the table:

 

Good striking.

A great chin.

Elite cardio.

 

Not even to mention the intangibles. Such as toughness, recovery, will, and heart.

 

 

 

 

When he wins, he shows his wrestling and his endless gas tank. When he looses, the intangibles still always come through and we can see why he’s unique and not like many others.

 

These are qualities that make him belong in the top 5.

 

 

Colby Deniers Stock Line #2:

“He’s never beat anyone in the current top 15. He only has beat older fighters on their way out”

 

This is mostly true, but consider it this way. Since 2019.. he’s fought for titles, and when not doing so, he was able to sell himself as the main event of a PPV or Fight Night. What other fighter in this division has been doing 5 round fights since 2019? Up until recently, Jack Della Maddalena, Shavkat Rakhmonov, Ian Garry, Micheal “Venom” Page, etc. weren’t around. A lot of this current top 15 are new faces, and anyone else wasn’t really main event caliber.

 

As far as I’m concerned, he fought and dominated who was there for the taking at the top, then fought for titles otherwise. He was widely accepted as the 2nd best welterweight in the world for years behind Usman.. sorry he didn’t fight Belal Muhammad or whoever you wish he did.

 

 

 

 

Colby Denier Stock Line #3:

“Colby is 0-3 in championship fights”

 

This is also true - but it’s not as black and white as “he’s a loser who blew it 3 times when fighting for the title”, as Colby deniers seem to think. In watching the fights, the 0-3 title fight record is nothing to be ashamed about and shouldn’t lower Colby’s stock as much as haters would like.

 

 

Championship fight #1

Usman vs Covington I

 

 

 

In his first championship fight, Colby and Usman had a war. Despite suffering a broken jaw in round 3, Colby had two judges and the commentary team of Rogan, DC, and Anik scoring the fight 2 rounds to 2. 

 

Kamaru ended up dropping him with 50 seconds left or so and reigned hammer fists down on the side of Colby’s head to get the stoppage. 

 

The point is this - Colby attempted 0 takedowns, and stood toe to toe with possibly the best welterweight champ of all time (or second behind GSP... a debate for another post). 

 

 

 

 

People love to say “Kamaru broke his jaw” and make it sound like Colby was dominated, but Colby showed his lion heart in a very close fight, and almost won with that broken jaw.

 

 

Championship fight #2

Usman vs Covington II

 

 

Colby Covington got a rematch against dominant champion Kamaru Usman at Madison Square Garden. Usman was lapping the division at this point, and it was Colby’s turn to get his second shot.

 

In a very close fight, Usman ended up retaining via unanimous decision. He had Colby’s number for rounds 1-2, but rounds 3-5 were very close. Colby showed his signature toughness in this one and was extremely close to championship gold. He took Kamaru down for the first time ever according to expert Daniel Cormier, even if the judges didn’t officially award him with it. 

 

 

 

 

Colby wasn’t robbed by any means, but this fight was tight, tighter than people remember.

 

 

Championship fight #3

Edwards vs Covington 

 

I thought Colby was going to control Leon with ease, surviving the striking and winning with many level changes. I think most thought this as he entered the fight the betting favorite. What happened? Colby broke his foot early in the fight on the first kick he threw.

 

 

     

 

 

This was a horrible showing from Colby, and I think if this fight was run back 10x more, Colby wins 90% of those. That sounds ridiculous to say, but how do you push the pace and get takedowns with a broken foot? After the loss, once Colby came home and saw his doctor, he told us what happened: 

 

“I broke my foot right away and couldn’t plant or explode off of it to use the wrestling and pressure I planned to use”.

 

I think this changed the entire fight and that is the only reason why he’s not the champion today.

 

 

The Gimmick Works

 

 

 

 

Question his methods all you like, but who sells more PPVs than this man? I am not saying selling fights should give you a ranking in the top 5, but it kind of gives you more title fights and main events. 

 

There is a reason Belal keeps getting passed over for title shots, despite being the clear number 1 contender. “Remember the name” till this day keeps trying to plead his case. When booking UFC 300, Dana didn’t remember his name, and fans totally understood why.

 

 

 

 

Which other welterweight has Donald Trump on speed dial? Especially not “Louisiana Swamp Trash” Dustin Poirier (his words not mine, we love DP around these parts). You think “Cumshot” Chimaev can sell a fight? Who names their kid Cumshot?

 

We all know Colby is actually a nice guy - we’ve seen it a few times where he’s revealed this gimmick is just to sell fights, and we all know the story where he almost got cut by the UFC before he turned heel in front of thousands of hostile Brazilians.

 

 

 

 

You can find him trying to explain himself to Usman after their fight, or being super respectful when he doesn’t think he’s being recorded. But when the cameras are rolling, there’s no line he won’t cross.

 

 

 

 

As long as Colby keeps pissing people off, there are big fights to be had.

 

 

The “Future”

 

 

Colby Convington Responds to Ian Garry

 

It looks like Colby is going to fight Ian Garry next. It remains to be seen when or where, but this is the perfect matchup for him. As soon as he called Ian “Corner McGregor”, there was no turning away from this fight.

 

Not only would a win over Garry put him back in the mix, it’s also stylistically a good matchup. Ian likes to keep opponents at range, but he’s never been put to the test against a pace pusher with endless cardio.

 

Once he dominates Ian Garry outside the octagon, inside the octagon, and takes his zero.. my guess is a lot of the Colby deniers will run out of stock lines to use. Otherwise...