‘DC Was a Champ at 42’: Colby Covington Optimistic About Becoming UFC Champ, Says Belal Is ‘Easy to Beat’

Colby Covington may have lost 3 of his last 4 fights and struggled to maintain a winning streak, but he isn’t about to just let go of his trash talk. ‘Chaos’ cited former UFC double champ Daniel Cormier during an interview and claimed that much like DC, he too could become a world title holder in due time.

During a Twitch stream, Covington claimed that despite being in his late 30s, he will still do the “unthinkable” and “shock the world”.

“DC was a champion at 41. I’m only 36 years young… I can easily beat him [Belal]. That’s a good matchup, he’s not gonna take me down, he’s not gonna outwrestle me.”

 

Despite being thoroughly outwrestled by a striker like Leon Edwards at UFC 296, who was then soundly defeated by Belal at UFC 304, Colby remains confident that he could easily defeat the welterweight champion. Despite all evidence to the contrary, Covington believes that all he needs to do is defeat someone in the Top 5 from the welterweight division and the world will be alright again.

Covington has been in only 8 fights since 2018, 4 of which have been title fights. Not only has he been soundly defeated in each of them, but Covington’s performance has increasingly suffered over the years as well. Fighting only once a year since 2020 couldn’t have helped matters either.

Belal Muhammad, on the other hand, had run through the who’s who of the welterweight division before even fighting for the title. Right now, having recovered from his toe injury, Belal is preparing to potentially take on Shavkat Rakhmonov when he returns to the octagon in 2025.

If he makes it out, he will have lightweight champion Islam Makhachev to contend with. Makhachev has just expressed his desire to move up to welterweight and fight for the 170 lbs belt if he retains his title against Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 311

So, Covington’s ambitions, however admirable remain a lofty promise at best, especially considering his performance against Joquin Buckley at the last UFC Fight Night of 2024 in Tampa, Florida.

Covington brushes over Buckley beatdown

Covington had to be taken off the fight after the doctor stopped the fight asserting that if it were to continue, he could lose the eye. That’s how terrible the night was for Colby. Coming back to the octagon after the space of a year, he looked slow and rusty, even more so than he looked against Leon.

Buckley was simply too big, too fast for the former title contender, and proceeded to put a hammering on him.

However, Covington has now attributed the defeat to taking the fight on short notice and external commitments. The 36-year-old has also claimed he was busy ensuring Donald Trump won the presidential elections.

“This wasn’t a full training camp, I was campaigning with Trump, getting him ready. I wasn’t even in the training room, I came off the couch.”

He had previously also blamed the doctor for stopping the fight early and claimed if that had not been the case, he would have defeated Buckley since he could see the exhaustion on his face.

Where he goes from here, nobody knows. But Colby has a knack for finding ways to be amid the upper echelons of the division. So it won’t be a surprise to see him there again. Deserving or not, of course, is subject to debate for another time.