Colby Covington expects to drown Leon Edwards when they fight.
Covington was declared the No. 1 contender for welterweight champion Edwards and thinks he’s a bad stylistic matchup for him. Covington weighed in as a backup for Edwards’ title defense against Kamaru Usman earlier this month at UFC 286 in London, but Edwards doesn’t think Covington is worthy of a shot.
Covington (17-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC) is convinced Edwards (21-3 MMA, 13-2 UFC) is ducking him, and doesn’t see him having the cardio to hang with him.
“I beat him from pillar to post,” Covington said on Michael Bisping’s “Believe You Me” podcast. “I beat him everywhere. I’m a better wrestler, I’m a better striker, better jiu-jitsu. My cardio, he can’t hang. He slows down in fights. In those last couple of rounds – he comes out hard and he’ll throw 50-60 kicks, 50-60 punches, but then his volume changes as the fight goes on. So I will wear him out and I will break him. I’ll break his will.
“He knows what’s going to happen: He’s going to get broken in front of the world.”
Edwards retained his title against Usman by majority decision to close out their trilogy. Covington, who suffered two defeats to Usman in competitive title fights, wasn’t impressed with Edwards’ win.
“He got the job done. It wasn’t anything impressive,” Covington said. “He didn’t separate himself. He didn’t look like he was a world beater. A lot of fans, they didn’t know who won. It was a close fight. What I did see from Usman is not the same Usman that I fought.
“‘Marty’ was a completely different fighter when I fought him a couple of years ago. He just looks like the hunger is gone. He doesn’t train as hard. Now he’s making all these excuses with injuries, so maybe that’s why I was there as the backup fighter in the first place because they didn’t know if ‘Marty’ was going to show up.”
