Colby Covington was not impressed with Justin Gaethje’s UFC Freedom 250 performance.
On June 14, in the main event of UFC Freedom 250, “The Highlight” dismantled and bloodied Ilia Topuria for four rounds, after which the then-undefeated lightweight champion’s corner decided to stop the fight before the 29-year-old could take further punishment. During the fight, Gaethje’s sharp combinations and jabs left Topuria with a broken nose and two fractured orbital bones.
However, Colby Covington is still not impressed with how Gaethje dethroned Topuria. “Chaos” has alleged that “The Highlight” had rocks in his gloves, something fans had joked about in the aftermath of the fight.
Colby Covington says Justin Gaethje is “not a good fighter” and “had rocks in his gloves” during Ilia Topuria bout
During a recent interview with MMA Fighting, taking a lighthearted jab at newly minted 155-pound titleholder Justin Gaethje’s UFC White House performance, Colby Covington said:
“He still sucks, let’s be honest. Little duck lip Gaethje, he’s still terrible. He’s not a good fighter. I mean, there’s a lot of controversies behind it. I saw that he had rocks in his gloves; there was something weird going on. I don’t know. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but I saw the pictures. I saw the pictures in his wraps, and his wraps look so much different than any wrap I’ve ever seen in UFC history. So I don’t know. I don’t think it’s that impressive.”
Covington believes Ilia Topuria’s mind was not in the right place during the Gaethje fight, and his personal issues, which forced Topuria to take a hiatus from fighting, lingered in his mind on June 14 and affected his performance in the octagon. Showing support for “El Matador” and trashing Gaethje, the former interim UFC welterweight champ added:
“But look at what Ilia had to go through, man. His mind was not in the fight. You could tell his mind was not in the fight. His mind was on his family; it’s on his divorce, it’s on his alimony and child support payments that he has to pay. I feel for Ilia. He’s going through a really bad breakup with his ex-wife and it became public. Who wants personal information like that to become public? The whole world was against him, and he was really fighting an uphill battle. So Justin still sucks. Nothing special about Justin duck-lip Gaethje.” [h/t: MMA Fighting]
Check out Colby Covington’s comments below:
What is next for Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje?
After the brutal title loss to Justin Gaethje, Ilia Topuria plans to enter the octagon again before the year ends, as per the Georgian-Spaniard’s team.
Gaethje, on the other hand, is not game to give Topuria a title rematch right away, as the American believes he made the 29-year-old ‘quit twice on the stool’ on June 14. “The Highlight” plans to enter the octagon potentially next year to defend his strap and is rumored to fight top contender Arman Tsarukyan.
