Dana White acknowledged Colby
Covington’s poor showing against Leon
Edwards in the
UFC 296 main event.
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White was the one to propose Covington’s name for the title shot
although Belal
Muhammad, on a 10-fight winning streak, was widely considered
to be the rightful contender. White adamantly went ahead with his
decision despite Edwards repeatedly pointing out Covington’s long
layoff and lack of recent success.
Edwards vowed to give “Chaos” a rude awakening and delivered on his
promise at the UFC 296 headliner. “Rocky” outstruck Covington on
the feet, stuffed his wrestling game and even went on to land his
own takedowns. Covington bizarrely went on to raise his hands after
the lackluster showing and even doubled down on his stance in the
post-fight presser, crying robbery due to alleged political
bias.
However, even White couldn’t disagree more with Covington, who
appeared “slow and old” to the
Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO on fight night.
“My take on it is when you’re 35 years old or any age in this sport
and you’re like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to wait,’ waiting is never a good
idea in this sport. This sport doesn’t wait for anybody.
“He looked slow tonight. He got outwrestled. Leon looked good; Leon
looked fast. Looked like [Colby] had trouble dealing with his speed
and then getting outwrestled too. Not to mention Leon absolutely
destroyed that leg, too.
“I think pressure gets to everybody. I’m sure Leon had a ton of
pressure. I mean, he was just talking about what [Colby] said about
his father and the last thing you want to do now is go out and lose
to that guy. All these guys deal with pressure, but Colby’s been in
big fights before. This isn’t Colby’s first rodeo. He’s been in big
fights… Colby just looked slow and old tonight, in my opinion. I
think everybody felt the same way. I mean, he got out-wrestled by
Leon tonight.”