The Film Room: Colby Covington
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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship interim welterweight titleholder Colby Covington will return to the Octagon for the first time in more than a year when he takes on Robbie Lawler in the UFC on ESPN 5 main event this Saturday at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The American Top Team rep is 9-1 since joining the UFC in 2014, and the self-proclaimed bad boy of MMA is only one win away from earning a title shot against undisputed champion Kamaru Usman.
Covington’s exploits are under the microscope in this edition of
The Film Room.
Once on the ground, Covington can pass opponents’ guard like butter and control them from any position. An interesting aspect of his grappling game that might go unnoticed are his passing feints. He often teases a pass to his left before quickly swinging his hips over and passing to side control on the right. Feints are usually only talked about in striking, but they can be just as useful on the ground.
Covington gets some flak for his lack of urgency on the ground, which results in a lot of unanimous decision victories. He will often get his opponents in a dominant position from which they cannot escape, but instead of unloading with punches and elbows, he will throw half-power strikes that slowly chalk up points but fail to finish a fight. Granted, he does this so he will not lose position. Most fighters want to put on a show for the fans, but outside of his antics away from the cage, Covington shows no such interest.
After spending the first two rounds breaking his opponent’s spirit on the ground, he gets more aggressive in the third and looks for submissions. He usually tries to take the back and secure a rear-naked choke but also has a few arm-triangle finishes on his résumé. In his first five-round fight with Rafael dos Anjos in 2018, Covington showed a bit more urgency than normal throughout the fight, but he still failed to put forth an exciting performance.
It is known that Covington has the grappling chops to dominate nearly anyone in the division, but the main area of concern for him is the lack of striking. He has improved much since joining the UFC but often gets into a pattern of throwing spinning backfists and wild hooks. He may never be an elite striker, but with such a dominant grappling game, he does not need to be. Covington’s go-to combo is an overhand left to lead hook, but again, he often gets stuck throwing it over and over again -- a tendency an elite striker will be able to exploit. Since the threat of his grappling is always there when he comes forward, most opponents look to evade rather than counter, which allows him to land this combo with ease. Although the technique is not there, he seems to find success with it in nearly all of his bouts.
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship interim welterweight titleholder Colby Covington will return to the Octagon for the first time in more than a year when he takes on Robbie Lawler in the UFC on ESPN 5 main event this Saturday at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The American Top Team rep is 9-1 since joining the UFC in 2014, and the self-proclaimed bad boy of MMA is only one win away from earning a title shot against undisputed champion Kamaru Usman.
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Covington was a two-time NCAA All-American wrestler at Oregon State
University and a two-time Pac-10 Conference champion. He started
his MMA training just eight years ago and has already fought for a
title at the highest level of the sport, due mostly to his elite
wrestling background. In 2011, Covington was hired by American Top
Team to help out with wrestling classes and quickly realized it was
something at which he could shine. Many fighters come into the UFC
with similar grappling backgrounds and try to prove they are
well-rounded by striking with opponents. Olympic wrestlers like
Henry
Cejudo and Yoel Romero
took this route and have enjoyed success, but Covington takes no
chances. He knows his grappling is far superior to that of most
fights, so he bases his entire game on getting the fight to the
ground. Most of his takedowns come against the cage. He will
pressure opponents until their back hits the fence, shoot for a
double- or single-leg and use the cage to slowly work for the
takedown if he cannot land it immediately.
Once on the ground, Covington can pass opponents’ guard like butter and control them from any position. An interesting aspect of his grappling game that might go unnoticed are his passing feints. He often teases a pass to his left before quickly swinging his hips over and passing to side control on the right. Feints are usually only talked about in striking, but they can be just as useful on the ground.
Covington gets some flak for his lack of urgency on the ground, which results in a lot of unanimous decision victories. He will often get his opponents in a dominant position from which they cannot escape, but instead of unloading with punches and elbows, he will throw half-power strikes that slowly chalk up points but fail to finish a fight. Granted, he does this so he will not lose position. Most fighters want to put on a show for the fans, but outside of his antics away from the cage, Covington shows no such interest.
After spending the first two rounds breaking his opponent’s spirit on the ground, he gets more aggressive in the third and looks for submissions. He usually tries to take the back and secure a rear-naked choke but also has a few arm-triangle finishes on his résumé. In his first five-round fight with Rafael dos Anjos in 2018, Covington showed a bit more urgency than normal throughout the fight, but he still failed to put forth an exciting performance.
It is known that Covington has the grappling chops to dominate nearly anyone in the division, but the main area of concern for him is the lack of striking. He has improved much since joining the UFC but often gets into a pattern of throwing spinning backfists and wild hooks. He may never be an elite striker, but with such a dominant grappling game, he does not need to be. Covington’s go-to combo is an overhand left to lead hook, but again, he often gets stuck throwing it over and over again -- a tendency an elite striker will be able to exploit. Since the threat of his grappling is always there when he comes forward, most opponents look to evade rather than counter, which allows him to land this combo with ease. Although the technique is not there, he seems to find success with it in nearly all of his bouts.
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