I have been a Covington fan for a long time: Anyone who reads my stuff knows that right away. I enjoy his mish-mash of styles, I enjoy how good he is on a microphone and I even somewhat enjoy his antics in pre-fight interviews where he seems to want his upcoming opponent to throw some blows at him before they even hit the octagon. One thing I do not like though, is when he, or anyone else for that matter, makes lame-ass excuses after a loss and in his and many other people's cases, a very poor and boring performance.
I hyped up the Covington/Edwards fight to my friends and people that listen to me online for a long time. I even predicted that it would be one of the best fights of the year because I was of the impression that Edwards didn't really belong in his championship position and that Covington was extremely hungry to take that strap for himself. I really thought he was going to bring the heat in the fight and bet that not only would he win, but he would dominate and get a finish before the championship rounds. Boy was I ever wrong.
What we ended up with was a boring, sizing up your opponent first two rounds with very little happening. I expected Covington to explode out of the gate and really swarm Edwards but he didn't do that. For the first 7 and a half minutes this seemed more like an episode of Dancing with the Stars than a championship UFC bout. Then, when they actually did start to engage one another, it was more like both of them were looking for counterstrikes rather than being the aggressor. Covington's takedowns were just pathetic and to me it appeared as though he was merely trying to gain points on scorecards rather than actually do anything once the two of them hit the mat.
When the final decision was made after 5 gruelingly boring rounds was announced, I don't think anyone was surprised that it was an Edwards victory. When you are fighting the champ you have to be the champ or as Ric Flair famously said
Covington did not "beat the man." I would say that he didn't even come close to beating the man. He was pathetic in that fight and in my world and many other people's, he lost a lot of credibility and now he will likely be relegated to a "gatekeeper" position in his division. I don't see any scenario where he gets a 4th shot at the belt.
Covington is not known for being humble at all and rather than admit that he was outclassed or that his strategy was the wrong one, he waits two months for an interview and says this:
He would later tweet an X-ray as additional proof of this excuse
Now I am not going to question the authenticity of the X-ray because that would get called out pretty fast but in my mind it doesn't matter. You are a fighter, the other guy is trying his best to break you and you him, injuries are part of the game and as one of the best in the world it is expected of you to continue to strive for excellence regardless of the pain.
I recall a Jon Jones fight where at least one of his toes was seriously dislodged and bloody and Jon didn't even notice it until it was pointed out by whoever was interviewing him in-ring after the fight. Turns out it was badly broken. If I even catch one of my toes on a chair leg in my house I crumble like a bitch.... but then again I am not a professional MMA fighter am I?
I think that Colby making a big deal out of this and essentially saying "it wasn't my fault that I lost, I just got hurt and COULDN'T... the same would happen to anyone else!"
I think this is lame as hell and when you are in this position you fight through the pain... or if you honestly can't continue because the pain is too great, you give up. I would have more respect for Colby if he had given up after suffering the injury than I would with him making excuses two months after the fact. Hell, it probably would have given more credibility to him getting a rematch if he had.
I don't think that MMA fans are going to warm to this across the board. Colby, enjoy your Fight Night headliners going forward because I think that is all you are going to get henceforth.