Daniel Cormier thinks Colby Covington has overachieved in his MMA career.
Covington (17-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC) challenges welterweight champion Leon Edwards (20-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) in the UFC 296 headliner Dec. 16 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and ESPN+.
Cormier, a former two-division UFC champion and UFC Hall of Famer, doesn’t see any specific special attributes in former interim champion Covington, which is why he’s amazed at the success he’s been able to have.
“I believe for everyone we watch in this beautiful sport that we have the honor of calling, no one has done more with less than Colby Covington,” Cormier said on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. “He’s not the biggest, he’s not the fastest, he’s not the strongest. But, he wins. With those abilities, he has become a two-time NCAA All-American, he has been the UFC interim champion, he’s fought for the belt two times, and he’s fighting for the belt another time.
“But nothing about Colby jumps off the page. He’s meat and potatoes. As meat and potatoes as it gets. Volume and cardio, but that all comes with hard work. He’s not going to jump higher than anybody, he’s not going to run faster than anybody. But with his abilities, he has done that. That’s crazy. We have seen many people like this that don’t accomplish what Colby Covington has accomplished.”
UFC 296 marks Covington’s third opportunity to claim 170-pound gold. Covington fell short to Kamaru Usman twice in title fights – a late stoppage loss at UFC 245 in December 2019, and a close decision defeat at UFC 268 in November 2021.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 296.
Daniel Cormier: ‘No one has done more with less than Colby Covington’ ahead of UFC 296 title shot