I was one of those guys that chose Covington for the win against Leon Edwards and really expected him to give the fight of his life in this fight where as usual, he talked a whole lot a shit leading up to the match and really went for the theatrics in press conferences leading up to the actual fight.
Although I do enjoy Colby's gift with a microphone I thought he went too far with the patriotism in these press conferences and I just wanted him to shut up by the time this one was over. It was always going to lead to blows before it was over and I think this is planned.
Covington has made his rise to the top entirely too political and him involving Trump in his corner is a bit too much.
What was the most disappointing about all of this was that Covington didn't really turn up for the fight against Edwards and for the most part it was pretty evident even in the first round that not only was Colby not going to win, but it was going to be a boring fight with very little happening.
By the middle of round 2 I was getting frustrated because in all title fights, I feel as though the pressure lies on the challenger to get in there and win the belt, it isn't going to be handed to them. By the end of round 2 very little had happened on either fighter's part and it seemed as though they were simply dancing around like fairies and feeling one another out. A counterstrike strategy can be a good one but this requires someone to make the first strike and these two were not doing a great deal of that.
Edwards did a good job of keeping Covington at distance with leg strikes and using his legs to keep Colby's guard up and for the most part both of them looked afraid to engage.
Colby didn't alter his technique until round 3 but unfortunately (for people who wanted Covington to win) Edwards pretty easily stuffed Colby's takedown attempts and even when Covington succeeded in taking Leon down, nothing much happened in the exchange. In one of them, Leon countered the takedown and it looked like he nearly set up a submission.
Covington needed to seriously bring the heat in order to win this one and I wasn't surprised at all when the judges scored the bout in favor of Edwards. I correctly predicted the score and this might sound special to people that don't regularly watch the sport but trust me when I say that this was an easy one to predict.
When a champ is defending their belt I feel as though most judges will give them the round unless it is undeniably in favor of the other guy and in this fight not much happened in any rounds other than 4 and 5 and it seemed as though the only reason why Covington was awarded round 5 was because he realized at that point that he needed a finish in order to take the belt. I've never understood what is going on in fighters' minds when they wait until the last damn minute to actually go for it.
In the years that I have been watching MMA, the belt very rarely gets awarded by decision to the challenger, even when it does in fact appear as though the challenger was the better fighter. The one that stands out the most in my mind was when Jonny Hendricks clearly beat Georges St-Pierre and the Canadian was battered all to hell. Jonny didn't finish his opponent though and the judges gave the fight to GSP.
I was really disappointed with Covington's performance and even more disappointed that during the post-fight interview that he didn't really even talk about the fight or his performance but instead made a political speech that was about Trump. I don't think he even mentioned the fight during his two-minute diatribe.
So I think Colby is basically done at this point. This was his 3rd attempt at getting the title and because of his woeful performance, there isn't much chance he is going to get another one. The only way I can possibly see that happening is if Belal Muhammad wins vs Leon Edwards. Then UFC will kind of be at a loss for who to have him fight other than Edwards, which will be guaranteed unless Edwards retires. I don't see any situation in which Colby would get another shot at Edwards... the fight was just too boring to expect people to get excited about that matchup ever again.
Things don't look good for Covington in the future though and the fact that he is near 40 years old kind of ensures that he is going to be mid-card or perhaps a headliner at Fight Night events in the future. It's a shame, because I thought, incorrectly, that he was the best in the world and he could prove it if he was just hungry enough. I think his obsession with politics has kind of taken his eyes off the real objective though and perhaps he is simply positioning himself to get some sort of favors from DJT if that guy gets elected again. I suppose being friends with one of the richest and most powerful people in the world is worth more than a fight purse.