Matt Brown: If Colby Covington loses to Leon Edwards, 'I have a hard time believing he's going to continue fighting'
03/10/2023 14:00
Colby Covington attempts to become an undisputed UFC champion for the third time in his career when he faces Leon Edwards in December. Is the fight a do-or-die moment for the always-outspoken welterweight contender?
UFC veteran Matt Brown believes it could be, especially considering Covington got his title shot without going on a long winning streak, much less beating anybody currently ranked in the top 15 in the UFC's 170-pound division.
While Covington won an interim title back in 2018, he came up short in two fights against Kamaru Usman. After nearly two years away, he's received another opportunity versus Edwards. Because he's been so inactive and very selective with his opposition in recent years, Brown feels like a loss to Edwards could result in his retirement.
"I have a hard time believing he's going to continue fighting if he loses this fight, to be honest," Brown said about Covington on the newest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. "He just doesn't come across as that kind of guy to me.
"He hasn't fought for two years. He's not built like me, where I love fighting, and if I lost 10 in a row, I'd still want to fight. He's the kind of guy where I think he's in there to get paid, get his money, stir up as much s*** as he can and get out. Nothing against that. I'm not saying that's a wrong way to do it. Had I operated in that fashion, maybe I'd be living in a bigger home right now. It is what it is, but [this is his third title shot], and he hasn't fought for two years.
"What would he even do after this if he were to lose again? He's got a murderer's row coming up."
A pair of rising welterweights are also competing at UFC 296: Shavkat Rakhmonov takes on Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson, while Ian Machado Garry faces his toughest test to date against Vicente Luque. Belal Muhammad is also considered by many to be the No. 1 contender in the division, with a 10-fight undefeated streak.
That all adds up to Covington facing a long road back to title contention if he loses.
"We talk about him earning one to get a deserved title shot in the future — he's got a lot of f****** hard work to do, and he's probably not going to get that done," Brown said.
While Brown believes Covington could be done with a loss, he's not sure the former interim champ will face that problem. Covington presents a lot of interesting problems for Edwards.
"We've seen Colby fight enough – we know he's got a good shot here," Brown said. "This is a very winnable fight for him, to be honest.
"But Leon is just one of those guys that just f****** knows how to pull a f****** fight out. With what we've seen with the [Kamaru] Usman [fights]. He just seems always find a way to get it done. But I do think Colby's a bad matchup for him. This is going to be real interesting."
On paper, Edwards has a decided advantage on the feet, where he's known as a knockout striker. But the way Brown sees it, the champ has to land those shots to really do damage to Covington. Brown knows that Covington may not have the biggest or best arsenal when he's throwing hands, but an aggressive in-your-face style could be the solution to Edwards' long-range weapons.
"Leon is such a sniper on the feet, and I think when you compare the fights with Usman, Usman was trying to play that same game," Brown explained. "He was trying to snipe with Leon a little bit, and that's Leon's game. Usman was having a lot of success fighting like that against other guys. I think particularly against [Jorge] Masvidal, who is kind of a sniper himself, and then Usman ended up obviously knocking him out. Colby just brings a completely different fight to the feet there, and I'm not sure how well Leon's going to handle that.
"If it's a pure kickboxing match, I think Leon wins no problem and I think if Colby doesn't fight him properly on the feet, then it's going to be an easy night for Leon. But I think the way Colby fights on the feet could bring a lot of problems to Leon on the feet to lead to the wrestling. When I say a bad matchup, because Colby he'll come forward, and he'll just throw and not care if he gets hit in the process at some points. Almost like a lesser version of the Diaz brothers. He just comes forward and throws and throws and I'm not sure how Leon's going to handle that."
