Colby Covington, who began his career as a dominant fighter, has now developed a pattern of injuries. Since his first fight against Kamaru Usman at UFC 245, Covington has faced challenges in terms of what it takes to defeat him.
The past five fights, including three losses, have provided fans with insight into the conditioning of the former interim welterweight champion. Two fight losses against Usman and the last fight against Leon Edwards in December 2023 were enough to fit Colby Covington’s current scenario in the UFC welterweight division.
Colby Covington shows the exact moment of his UFC 296 injury
The 35-year-old fighter has a new fact to reveal where he claims there was a reason why he lost the fight. Against Leon Edwards, Colby Covington was not able to put on a performance on UFC 296 night, which resulted in a unanimous decision victory for Edwards.
From round one to round five, ‘Rocky’ didn’t give his opponent a chance against him. However, ‘Chaos’ has a different perspective, providing evidence of why he struggled with his cardio and power during the title fight. Covington released the X-ray of the broken foot that he suffered in the first round of the fight against Edwards.
Colby Covington releases X-ray confirming a broken foot in the first round against Leon Edwards at UFC 296 👀 pic.twitter.com/YDwWi2u9fi
— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) February 6, 2024
In the judges’ scorecard, Covington was able to win the 5th round of the fight on all three judges’ scorecards. Colby said he broke his foot right away after throwing the first kick that landed on Rocky’s elbow.
This is the reason he couldn’t explode into the fight, and his wrestling couldn’t put pressure on Leon. He also revealed the reason he kept the details quiet for so long: he wanted to be sure about the injury.
The 35-year-old claimed, “The result wasn’t what I wanted; it wasn’t my night. I broke my foot right away, and I couldn’t plant or explode off it to use the wrestling and pressure I planned to use. I didn’t want to disclose this information until I had the x-rays.” Via MMAmania.
Colby Covington also revealed that he knew straight away after the first kick that the injury was bad but chose to continue the fight. Later, he criticized haters for making fun of him for dragging the fight to the last second of the fight.
Colby Covington on when he expects to return from injury
After getting three chances to put his hands on the title, Colby Covington will probably make his return at the end of the year or the fourth quarter of the year. It is clear that fans will not see Covington fighting for the title again any time in the future after failing three times already.
However, ‘Chaos’ has already chosen his next opponent, revealing his potential return to the cage. According to Middleeasy, Colby Covington shows his desire to fight against Ian Garry. Ian also revealed his list of fighters, where Colby’s name was also included.
Colby also revealed that if it is not Garry, then Gilbert Burns or Stephen Thompson would be a great idea for his next match-up. As ‘Wonderboy’ also suffered a loss in his last fight, ‘Chaos’ gave this anticipated match-up the name “The ultimate nice guy vs. the ultimate bad guy.”
Though there is still time to recover for Colby, as per surgeons, the expected time to recover is 8 to 12 weeks, and then 1 month to get back to the same foot condition. It is now expected that the return of Colby Covington will be in the last months of the year.
What are your thoughts on who will accept Colby Covington’s fight offer from his three choices?
