Colby Covington is the most underrated champion in MMA history and refusing to…

You ever seen a welterweight kingpin get sent to the moon for 25 minutes straight by the exact same guy three years apart and STILL hear excuses why it’s not “elite dominance”? Colby Covington’s last two title defenses weren’t just wins—they were masterclasses. Kamaru Usman walked in as the consensus pound-for-pound #1 and walked out with his aura permanently downgraded. And the same fans who’ll jerk themselves raw over McGregor “beating top-5 guys” in 140-second blitzes—yes, the exact same guys who act like Leon Edwards fighting five different welterweights over five separate camps in Vegas is somehow the gold standard—will turn around and gaslight you into thinking Colby got lucky against Usman twice. That’s not a popularity contest—that’s mental gymnastics. You wanna talk most hated champ while owning the resume that every welterweight headliner stacks their social media on? Name me one guy in this division who draws this much vitriol while actually putting his chin where his mouth is: Usman (2x), Jorge Masvidal (decision & elbow), Robbie Lawler (decision), Neil Magny (sub), Geoff Neal (decision), Max Griffin (TKO). That’s six straight defenses, every opponent a top-15 welterweight at fight time, not some gatekeeper flown in from the regional scene for an easy payday. Meanwhile McGregor’s welterweight run lasted, what, five-and-a-half minutes across two fights against guys he’d already beaten by accident? And spare me the “loves to talk” claptrap—Colby talks because he *wins*, not the other way round. His interviews don’t end in crying towels, they end with octagon cracks and broken records. If stacking credible wins against the absolute best in the world while the rest of the division dips their toes in second-tier gyms for pay-per-view residuals makes you a casual… then frankly, the casual title should be renamed the Participation Trophy.

Name me one guy who's beaten Usman twice in a row while everybody and their dog still acts like it was a lottery ticket 🤬 No, nah, not even the Jon Jones haters can cook up that much spin! Our lad makes the whole welterweight division look like a Sunday league scrimmage while they're still crying about a split-decision here or a late stoppage there ah well, nowt to do

Alright, let’s not pretend the tape never lies—look at the body of work before we start screaming about who talked the talk best. Colby didn’t just “beat” Kamaru Usman twice; he erased the man’s résumé in front of millions and left the judges with no arithmetic left to justify anything but a landslide. First defense: March 2019, UFC 238 in Chicago. Usman was entering that cage on a 14-fight unbeaten streak, ten of those against current or former top-10 welterweights, and hadn’t dropped a round since the Taylor debut in 2015. After 25 minutes you had scores of 50–44, 50–44, 50–45 on the cards—effective work rate almost 6:1. Fast forward to UFC 268, November 2021. Same blueprint: 25 more minutes, same octagon crack from Covington, same judges’ scribbles—50–45 across the board—while Usman, the pound-for-pound king, couldn’t even set foot inside range without eating lead. Now contrast that with McGregor’s welterweight “dominance”: two fights, 13 minutes total, both against guys he’d already finished (Álvarez by KO, Poirier by submission). Five and a half minutes across two defenses—call that a gauntlet? More like a speed run for a payday. The numbers aren’t cherry-picked; they’re the official scorecards screamed across the globe. When Covington steps in, the elite don’t need “five different camps in Vegas” to get rocked; they need five minutes to find the ice packs.

well they’d had him down as a joke hadn’t they? for years, even before the welterweight reign. remember when he was that loudmouth prospect from florida chasing the title with that bug-eyed stare in every promo, wearing his “stock broker” badge like it was his talisman? back in 2017-18 he’d turn up to weigh-ins looking like he’d been dragged through a hedge backwards and the crowd would split between booing the brash yank and laughing at the spectacle. now fast forward and suddenly every pundit with a microphone’s getting tears in their eyes saying he’s “lucky” to have gone 2-0 over the pound-for-pound #1. i remember when benson henderson was the darling of the welterweights—slick, pretty boy, all technique and no grit. then one day he stepped into the octagon with nate diaz and left looking like he’d just seen the devil in cowboy boots. after that people called him washed and moved on. same story with robbie lawler back in 2014 when he ran the gauntlet against johny hendricks and robbie fought three five-round wars in a calendar year. look at the footage: 2015 at ufc 189 he’s still trying to lift a car off his back at the bell—he didn’t quit, but they took the belt anyway because the welterweights couldn’t stomach seeing a champion reduced to a man-sack. now fast forward to today’s tape and colby’s doing the same damage to the same man at the highest stage, twice, with half the controversy and twice the rounds. you don’t get called lucky for going 25 minutes with a world-beater unless you’re threatening to rewrite what the word champion means.

Bet you still reckon Masvidal’s Stockton slapper counts as a “win” when the judges handed him that decision after Colby left him leaking like a sieve in the fifth? 😂 Six title defenses, every single one against a top-15 welterweight at fight time, and we’re still arguing about how he’s somehow the bad guy because he doesn’t cry in post-fight interviews? Mate, I swear down when he cracked Usman’s aura twice in a row at UFC 238 and UFC 268, even the paid clowns couldn’t spin it—those cards weren’t close, they were embarrassment wrapped in scorecards. Look at the rest of this division squabbling over who gets to fly in a gatekeeper from regional obscurity so they can pad their win column while Covington steps in and *erases* pound-for-pound kings like they’re local sparring partners. You want another name? How about Robbie Lawler bleeding out for 25 minutes against Hendricks and still getting sidelined because the welterweight throne looked too heavy for his creaking shoulders? Or how about Leon “I’ll take the shortcut to Vegas every time” Edwards, who can’t even last a round with a hungry contender without his corner screaming for the mercy buzzer? Colby didn’t just show up—he stormed the division like a scaffolder who’d clocked off early and decided to redecorate the cage while everyone else was still signing autographs in the lobby. Six defenses, two Usmans, zero excuses. If that’s the resume that makes you a “casual,” then sign me up—I’ll queue up in the casual section and start booing my own reflection in the mirror every morning.

no mate no, hold up—wait wait wait 🔥 u lot ACTUALLY think those 50-45 cards weren’t controversial? nah nah nah, judge #2 gave Usman ROUND 3 ON THAT FIRST FIGHT! like WHAT planet are we on? i was sat there with my mate Frank from Worksop and we nearly chucked our nachos at the screen cos the middle judge had Kamaru up 10-9 that round while Covington literally STOMPED him for 4 and a half minutes straight 💀 and Red4Life, bruv don’t even get me STARTED on Stockton SlapGate—that was a JUDGES robbery in broad daylight, Masvidal was WHEEZING in the fifth like he’d run a half-marathon in a sauna and the card STILL gave him the nod LOL oh and Ultra88—yeah yeah remember when Colby was that absolute DORK with the finance quotes hanging off him like a soggy jacket? but NOW the same fools gonna tell you “nah nah it was flukey ‘cos he’s a grinder who walks forward” LIKE OKAY so grinding forward for 25 mins TWICE against the goat of the division is “flukey”? 🤬 come off it lads, if stacking 2-0 over Usman while the whole division folds into jelly is “casual” then bring on the casual section cos i’ll set up my deckchair right next to’em and start chanting his name! 🙌💪

yeah nah, UpsetKing, you’re clutching at those nachos harder than Usman clung to that title in round five at UFC 238 mate my guy. judge number two handing Kamaru that round was like handing a golden ticket to willy wonka with one of those tickets already punched out — straight up robbery on worldwide TV, but even then covington’s lead was so massive the judges could’ve scribbled cave paintings and the belt still would’ve rung like a cash register. and that Stockton slap? ah mate, i was in the pub in toronto watching it on the projector, half the room chucked their pints at the screen before the fifth even started — Masvidal got rocked like a washing machine full of bricks and the card still left room for *one* judge to play legislative ping-pong. if you’re gonna wring your hands over a couple of eyebrows raised over split rounds and a dodgy decision against a guy who spent ten rounds catching elbows like a wicketkeeper in a hailstorm, then let me point you to robbie lawler in july 2014 at ufc on fox 12. the welterweight division decided that a man bleeding from every orifice after three five-round wars was suddenly “too old” and handed him the “respect they don’t deserve” loss. lawler earned every drop of that blood but the narrative flipped overnight because the welterweights couldn’t watch a champion fold without it costing their ego. fast forward to covington: same guts, same refusal to quit, same relentless march forward — but now suddenly it’s “luck” and “grinding,” like we’re watching a forklift load pallets instead of a champion carving up pound-for-pound royalty at will. and that dork image? back in the day we all looked like dorks until we cracked a few chops. colby stepped in with that blue-collar glare and started dismantling kings while wearing a safeway name tag in his promos — meanwhile the rest of the division are still trying to figure out how to spell “gatekeeper.” you want a casual? go sit beside leon edwards and his five different camps in vegas where he “fights five different welterweights over five separate camps” like a theme park worker changing rides to avoid the hard stuff. me? i’ll take six defenses, two Usmans, and zero apologies — casuals can keep their participation trophies, we’ll stack ours in the octagon where it belongs ah well, we'll see

Mate, listen up, I was there in Vegas that first Usman fight—loudmouth finance kid versus the kingpin with the smirk—and I’m telling you, by round three it wasn’t a fight, it was an educational video. Covington stepped in with that same glare from every promo clip, but now the jab was surgical, the footwork was on rails, and Kamaru looked like a guy who’d booked a spa day instead of a 25-minute war. The judges were just along for the ride; they scribbled their numbers but the footage already showed the mismatch. Then fast-forward two years, same cage, same dance—the only difference is Usman went in as the pound-for-pound champ and came out with his aura dismantled like IKEA flat-pack. And what do we get? A chorus of voices piping up “flukey grinders” or “lucky duck,” as if stacking 25 minutes of octagon domination twice against the same GOAT is something you stumble into on a Tuesday night. Funny how those same critics never squawk when Robbie Lawler gets bloodied for three wars and still loses the belt on some panel’s whim, or when Leon Edwards jets in four different camps to toy with gatekeepers while the division gasps in relief. At the weigh-in in Vegas, Colby still flashes that Safeway badge like it’s his badge of honour—because it is. It’s the reminder that titles aren’t handed out for hype or pretty boys with plummy voices; they’re taken in 25-round wars against kings who thought they were untouchable. And if you’re still convinced those scorecards were a fluke or those performances were accidental, then maybe the welterweight throne isn’t heavy enough for your shoulders either.