UFC Tampa was not a pleasing night for Colby Covington.
Regardless of a star-studded nook crew that includes Hulk Hogan and Chael Sonnen, “Chaos” acquired absolutely the pulp overwhelmed out of him by Joaquin Buckley. “New Mansa” — six years Covington’s junior — shucked off his foe’s takedown makes an attempt and landed energy punches-in-bunches. In lower than quarter-hour, Covington’s eyelid was almost floating away, his ribs had been bruised, and his lead leg regarded a bit crooked.
It’s going to be an achy Christmas and tender New Yr within the “Chaos” family.
The plain query is what’s subsequent? How does Covington play off this loss? It’s powerful to play the “I’m higher than everybody else” function once you get your ass beat in consecutive fights. Certain, Covington can do his greatest to label the cageside physician a liberal hater intent on destroying America, however anyone with eyes is aware of the Buckley was the higher man right here and that the minimize stoppage was totally justified.
Whether or not Covington continues to decide to the bit or not, the person himself is aware of the reality. At 36 years of age, he’s not elite anymore. Covington was as soon as probably the greatest Welterweights alive, and now he isn’t. That’s the pure order of fight sports activities, and each athlete has to resolve what’s subsequent when this form of realization hits them.
I’ve joked many instances that an MMA profession is simply the world’s longest path to changing into a police officer or actual property agent, however Covington appears to lining himself up in a unique angle. “Chaos” is unquestionably angling for a transfer to the world {of professional} wrestling. In truth, he’s been speaking about it since 2019, and the timing is beginning to make sense.
Donald Trump is president, so there’s no have to marketing campaign. Covington is now not elite, so there’s no have to struggle. Why not attempt to crossover into the WWE and rating a paycheck? Covington is a pure heel — clearly — and has already acquired co-signs from Kurt Angle and Hulk Hogan in a single kind or one other.
It’s not prone to final, in fact. Covington has repeatedly confirmed himself to not be an ideal speaker, which is a good portion of what’s required in skilled wrestling. There’s additionally the easy reality that professional wrestling is basically tough. A whole lot of MMA fighters attempt to crossover, and few final significantly lengthy.
By some means, I doubt Covington will likely be overly upset if his eventual professional wrestling profession is short-lived. If he can pull a couple of bucks from the WWE, that’s extra infamy to assist line up an terrible Jorge Masvidal boxing rematch on the undercard of some Jake Paul card. Or perhaps in a pair years he’ll handle to latch himself onto the marketing campaign of Ron DeSantis or one of many Trump kids.
Who is aware of? Covington has positioned himself to do extra along with his post-elite interval than most on the UFC roster. As such, I wouldn’t count on all that many extra fights from “Chaos,” who appears primed to chase greener pastures within the close to future.
For full UFC Tampa outcomes and play-by-play, click on right here.
