- John McCarthy believes Colby Covington is declining
- “Big John” thinks “Chaos” made a mistake calling out Gilbert Burns
John McCarthy believes Colby Covington is no longer an elite fighter and shouldn’t have called out Gilbert Burns.
Colby wasn’t beating Buckley
Speaking on his Weighing In podcast with Josh Thomson, “Big John” criticized Covington for claiming he would’ve defeated Joaquin Buckley if the doctor hadn’t stopped the fight. For McCarthy, “Chaos” was clearly getting mauled and the gruesome cut on his eye wouldn’t have allowed him to perform well if the fight continued.
“There was a couple things from that fight watching it. First off, Colby took an a** whooping. He showed he’s a tough human being. He’s a tough man. He doesn’t whine during the fight, he’s going after it, he’s trying. But you know, he was cut in multiple spots. Across the brow, and right inside the eyelid, which is what caused the concern for the stoppage,” McCarthy said.
Calling out Burns was a bad idea
Despite suffering a tough loss, Covington opted to call Burns out after the Brazilian leaked Chael Sonnen’s number on social media. As per McCarthy, calling out a top contender like “Durinho” was a bad idea, considering how “Chaos” has been dwindling.
“Chael can say what he wants to… He wasn’t getting closer to winning that fight. He wasn’t coming back. He was getting the sh*t beat out him… He hasn’t gotten better. He’s gotten worse. I’m just going to be as honest as I can. He’s slowed down. He’s not as fast. His entries for takedowns aren’t as deep, and he doesn’t get where he used to get. All of those things are going to work against him, especially if he fights someone like Gilbert Burns… If he fights Gilbert… Does he want to take Gilbert down? It’s not an easy position to be… On the feet, Gilbert has more power. I think he’s got the speed,” the former UFC referee assessed.
https://x.com/GilbertDurinho/status/1870659515760382344
As it stands, Covington has now lost two fights in a row and has dropped down to No. 9 in the official welterweight rankings. Nevertheless, the former title contender vows to return stronger than ever.
Watch McCarthy’s full podcast episode below:
