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Media Big John McCarthy says Covington never had championship level

I have a very strong dislike for Covington, but he is a championship caliber fighter...

His antics and his mouth might have been what has put him in the title picture, but he has beaten the best the division had to offer him, including former title holders.

The names Usman crossed off on his way to the title (Dos Anjos, Maia, Woodley), Covington crossed them off too. Usman had to beat Masvidal to maintain his position at the top of the division, and Covington did the same. Aside from Burns, their records read very similar to one another with very similar results.
 
Ehh, Colby was right there at championship level. At that level there is no room for error and sometimes things break the wrong way for fighters and that's sorta what happened for him.

This is in no way excuses but just things (timing/circumstances) that didn't quite work out for him -

Injury scrapped him from a unification bout with Woodley, Usman got the shot instead
Colby is winning the first Usman fight but accumulated shots eventually drop him. I'm not saying it was an egregious stoppage but maybe a touch early
1.5 years after Usman takes the title, Colby beats Woodley worse than Usman beats him
2nd fight with Usman - very competitive, maybe ring rust and Covid delays affected Colby more than the more active Usman
Colby gets in this multi year feud and external crap with Masvidal
Fight with Edwards - very tentative at first, finishes strong. Turns out foot was broken in first round. Ring rust has to be a factor and now he's too old for another run

Now some of those factors are his own fault (particularly being selective) but not all. If the dice shake out a little differently he easily could have been the undisputed champ at some point. It's not happening now.
 
Big John has forgotten more about MMA than I will prob ever know, so no disrespect, but this isn’t exactly a hot take.
 
0-3 in in actual fights.

I'd say Colby was in his prime "interim" champion material like Condit and "erhm" Johnny Hendricks. But I never thought of him as the guy in the div.
 
I think the Florian comparison is solid. Tony or Chael would be another one. There was just never a time when Colby was the best. I think the interim belt can be a real accomplishment, but it's not the REAL belt.

IMO there are 2 ways you can tell who's "championship level". They beat the champion and take the belt or they win a vacant title and defend it.
 
BabyBlue_Bomber said:
The names Usman crossed off on his way to the title (Dos Anjos, Maia, Woodley), Covington crossed them off too. Usman had to beat Masvidal to maintain his position at the top of the division, and Covington did the same. Aside from Burns, their records read very similar to one another with very similar results.
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You're sucking Colby off hard here.

The Woodley he beat was nowhere near the same Woodley Kamaru beat. The Masvidal that Colby beat was an older and more worn (and KO'd) version of the Masvidal Kamaru beat. The Burns win is the prime contender that Covington does not have on his resume because he avoided them like the plague.

We just finally saw Colby get in there with a legitimately elite fighter in Leon and he looked horrible. He was just a good matchup for Kamaru, and people thought Colby was some comparable with the other elites of the division. He's not.

Colby is a career runner-up at best.
 
sonhow said:
0-3 in in actual fights.

I'd say Colby was in his prime "interim" champion material like Condit and "erhm" Johnny Hendricks. But I never thought of him as the guy in the div.
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During his rise up the rankings Leon and Kamaru were either right behind him or there with him. Colby winning his interim title meant precisely nothing, seeing as he loses to Leon and Kamaru (who weren't even champ at the time). There is no point where you could even consider him the 2nd best fighter in the division.
 
I agree with him. He really tried his ass off against Usman and all,but that was his chance and he just didnt get it done. His attributes just aint enough. When the fight gets ugly,its usually him thats getting sent to the canvas,and he dont shine in those moments like champs are supposed to.
 
I agree, I’m in the minority but I don’t think he beat RDA, I’ve rewatched the second round 3 times and Colby barely lands, he gets like one takedown that he does nothing with and gets outstruck the entire time, sorry I’m not giving you the round for missing almost every shot
 
Legendary said:
Is Colby high level? Yeah but its not the same as being elite/champion material. The Usman fights proved that as he is 0-2 against Usman and got stopped by him and his jaw broken. Just because he played it safe in the second fight and it was more competitive doesn't mean they are on the same level. Usman is an all time great, where as Colby lost every important fight he had. Colby will only be remembered for sucking Trump's dick.

If Colby was on the same level then he would have belts to prove it. He hasn't had a relevant win in years. 0-3 in title fights and half his wins were against aging vets. Thats not championship material and the Leon fight proved it.
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Not winning a belt doesn't mean you're not championship level. That's like saying Tony on a 12 fight winstreak was never on that championship level, because he never won the belt. Colby at his peak was clearly the number 2 guy behind Usman, and very close. People can pick his resume apart all they want, but he fought who was there at the time. Now he lost to Leon and all of a sudden he's a bum? Who's the last guy to beat Leon?
 
Unheralded Truth said:


"Did you see who he called out?"

I'm not saying Colby Covington is not a good athlete, he is. He's good. He just can't reach that level. Kenny Florian was a good fighter, a talented guy and Kenny Florian had what I believe, I wanna say
three titleshots and lost. He couldn't get it done in any of those. That doesn't mean he's not a good fighter, it can happen where you just can't reach that pinnacle. You know? And there's gonna be
people out there saying "well, Colby won the interim". Nope, interim ain't crap. It's just not the same, cause there was somebody else that was actually better, sitting there with the title. It just says
that you're not that guy, to get to that level.

Did you see who he called out? Wonderboy! He's not calling out Shavkat (laughing). Again, who is it that he has fought to get his wins? They’ve been guys at 38, 39, 40; that’s the whole point.
You know? When he fought a 32-year-old, who was fast, look at what happens! Speed kills.
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Fighting for the Championship is the definition of "Championship Level"

I like the comparison of Colby to Florian... both championship level fighters.

Big Jon trying to throw shade... Lol
 
Look, I'm not going as far as saying Colby is not or never was world class, I think who gets to hold a world title has a lot to do with timing and stylistic matchups and guys who can be a competitive second best in the world, may hypothetically be good enough to be the best in the world at a different point in time.

What I am saying though is that his resume is hot garbage. His whole reputation comes from leathering off on old Robbie Lawler and the competitive matches with Usman. His actual record is not very impressive. It's all just built on his acting and promoting.

He's still just 35. It's fair to say that no fights of his to date were past his prime. In his last 6 fights he went 3-3. He lost to really good guys. Alright, let's look at the wins then.
The last 3 guys he beat came off of consecutive losses and were no younger than 37 years. Those were Lawler, Woodley and Masvidal. These are the only guys he beat in the last 5 years and they each lost their last two bouts before facing Colby.
 
Does anyone really care about the opinion of a washed up referee whose biggest career accomplishments are ruining mega fights with his incompetence?
 
svmr_db said:
Not a fan of Colby these days but you can definitely claim he was championship level briefly given how competitive his fights with Usman were.
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It was two wrestlers that decided not to wrestle and have a sloppy kickboxing fight, it was competitive because Usman also have awful striking that good looks because people are scare of the takedown.
 
hes championship material.

there was no shame in losing to usman and edwards - both are great fighters and potential hall of famers.
 
Colby was really good at one time, championship level even. That time has now passed. BJM is wrong.
 
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