While it’s not official yet, all signs appear to be pointing towards Colby Covington getting the next shot at Leon Edwards bantamweight title and he appears to be convinced that it’s now only a matter of time before he takes the strap from the UK star.
“I beat him from pillar to post,” Covington predicted on Michael Bisping’s ‘Believe You Me’ podcast. “I beat him everywhere. I’m a better wrestler, I’m a better striker, better jiu-jitsu. My cardio, he can’t hang. He slows down in fights. In those last couple of rounds – he comes out hard and he’ll throw 50-60 kicks, 50-60 punches, but then his volume changes as the fight goes on. So I will wear him out and I will break him. I’ll break his will.
“He knows what’s going to happen: He’s going to get broken in front of the world.”
That being said, Edwards has now shocked the world by beating long-time champion Kamaru Usman twice-in-a-row, while Covington came off second-best on two occasions himself against ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ in 2019 and 2021.
Nevertheless, Covington suggests that Usman looked like a shadow of his former self during his majority decision loss to Edwards in the rematch, and came away underwhelmed by how ‘Rocky’ performed.
“He got the job done. It wasn’t anything impressive. He didn’t separate himself. He didn’t look like he was a world beater. A lot of fans, they didn’t know who won. It was a close fight. What I did see from Usman is not the same Usman that I fought.
“‘Marty’ was a completely different fighter when I fought him a couple of years ago. He just looks like the hunger is gone. He doesn’t train as hard. Now he’s making all these excuses with injuries, so maybe that’s why I was there as the backup fighter in the first place because they didn’t know if ‘Marty’ was going to show up.”
