We NEED this powerhouse in our roster to make every fight feel like a main event!

Covington? More like "Disappointment Inc." running their mouth again. First we get Mayweather vs De La Hoya theatrics? Please. That was a circus, not a fight. Source on that UFC dream deal? I’m hearing more hype than Hard Knocks’ rookie cutdowns. If Covington actually lands in 155, Gaethje better get a padded cell ready—trilogy or not, El Cucuy leaves grapplers looking like they’re stuck in traffic.

Colby?! Mate... that man’s a pressure cooker with boxing! 💥 Imagine JJ taking on that machine—trash talk, grappling clinics, 55 CQC wars... EVERY card he’s in becomes the main event! 😱 El Cucuy vs a welterweight champion who can actually dish it out? Dream fight for fans who LIVE for chaos! ⚡ Nah, he’d shit his own pants running from Justin’s hands, remember Woodley? 😂 Hearts says yes... now we just gotta convince Dana to pony up the coin!

Alright, let’s park the fanboyism for a second and look at the math on this. Colby Covington turns 32 next March—old for a welterweight who’s already got close to a dozen fights on his ledger in the division. Weight cut is brutal at 170, and if you’re banking on that being his permanent home you’re asking a guy whose last four welterweight wars have been five-rounders to suddenly flip the script on cardio. Meanwhile Justin’s only 33 himself, but he’s been fighting higher-tier opposition more frequently and the wear shows in the cage: three finishes in the last five rounds. So if the plan is “let’s just plug Covington in,” you’ve got two guys who are one step past their physical prime staring each other down. Now flip to the business side. Top Rank’s whispering about a dream deal because they know a mid-tier welterweight main event with Covington’s marketable mouth sells tickets in Asia and gets PPV buys in Europe, but Dana White isn’t dumb—he’ll pencil out the purse before he signs anything. Colby’s last disclosed purse was five mil against Usman #2; a Trilogy rematch at 155 would need a similarly eye-watering check to pry him from Top Rank. Then there’s the belt logistics: Covington’s already a two-time interim champ. If Usman comes off injury and reclaims the strap, Dana can’t just strip him—so either Covington fights for an interim again (which kills any “main event” cachet) or we’re stuck with a three-belt mess nobody wants. Faithful_4Life brings up Woodley, but let’s remember Covington’s never fought a striker of Gaethje’s pedigree. Covington’s boxing-heavy pressure game works when he’s throwing 80 jabs to score on points, but against a fighter who averages 5.3 knockdowns per ten minutes? You don’t need an Ivy League degree to predict the cardio tank and then the flying knee. The question isn’t whether it sells; it’s whether it’s actually competitive for more than a round or two. Bottom line: the money might line up, but the timeline doesn’t. If we’re talking trilogy in 2025, fine—Covington’s still got three title shots left under contract. But if it’s sooner, you’re asking a guy who specializes in decision wars to suddenly survive in Gaethje’s octagon for 25 minutes, and that feels like wishful math rather than ring logic.

Five minutes in and all I hear is "what if Covington somehow lands in 155 like some shiny new gadget on a late-night infomercial." Mate, wake up—this isn’t some plug-and-play experiment where you yank a welterweight grappler off the shelf and drop him straight into El Cucuy’s demolition derby. Colby’s 32 next year and already clutching his pearls every time he’s been past the first bell against top-tier strikers; remember how long it took the decision boys to crack against Islam? Five rounds of getting their skulls rattled and still no finish. You think five extra pounds of ribeye are gonna turn a points machine into a survival artist overnight? And let’s park the business fairy dust for a hot second—Top Rank’s whispering sweet nothings because they need warm bodies in Asian arenas who can still sell jerseys to grandmas in Seoul, but Dana’s not signing blank cheques based on a man’s Twitter rants. Covington’s last disclosed haul was five mil to whisper sweet nothings to Usman, and now you’re expecting Gaethje to fork over the same six-figure number just so we can watch a welterweight grappler get cracked like a pinata in three rounds? That’s not “main event”—that’s a murder-suicide watch party. Faithful, I love your enthusiasm, but if you honestly think Covington steps into that cage and isn’t begging for oxygen before the first takedown, you’re rewatching Woodley reels with the sound off. The man’s boxing volume is his entire identity; when the lights drop to 170 you either adapt or get adapted—no middle ground. And unless Dana’s feeling unusually charitable after blowing another nine figures on Conor’s retirement villa, this reads like a press release dreamt up in a Las Vegas sportsbook back office.

yeah but have you ever seen ben askelund take a body shot? real question that sort of rear naked choke setup goes through him like a hot knife through cheese doodles.

Right, so last night I was down the pub with the lads, half-cut on warm lager, and some UFC no-mark starts bleating about how "Covington’s grappling isn’t actually that bad" like he’s some kind of coach’s nephew. Mate, I put twenty quid on him tapping in under three against Poirier back when Poirier was still sniffing at contender chops, and that man couldn’t even lift Colby to save his life—only time he came close was when he threw himself face-first into a guillotine and got choked by his own belt.

ever seen that "Poirier vs Covington" dream that kept getting pushed every couple years like a stubborn flat tyre? remember when they were supposed to touch gloves back in 2019? all the ducks were in a row, stadium in Dublin booked, posters up - and then out of nowhere Justin's manager texts no, he's doing that ridiculous lightweight showdown with Poirier instead. same year they tried to book the trilogy with Woodley at welterweight after Covington got robbed in their first scrap, except Justin turned around and said "nah, i'm chasing belts not consolation prizes". and who can forget the 2021 megamania where Covington was finally gonna move up to welterweight for a mega trilogy with Usman that would've been called "Five Rounds of Boredom"? dana said "fuck off" so fast the welterweight belt collection in the lobby rattled. time will tell alright, but time's got a pretty good sense of humour after seeing us all chase these ghosts for a decade.