Colby Covington lasted less than a minute against Raul Rosas Jr. and his peers are letting him have it.
Rosas defeated Covington in a submission-only grappling match at a Hype Fighting event in Italy this past Tuesday, needing just 43 seconds to secure a rear-naked choke and force Covington to tap out. It was a stunning upset given Covington’s size advantage (Rosas typically competes at 135 pounds, Covington at 170) and experience as a former interim UFC champion.
Longtime Covington rival Kamaru Usman
broke down the loss alongside Pound 4 Pound co-host Henry Cejudo, who didn’t hold back with his criticism of Covington.
“He gets f*cking taken down, double-legged, this is the whole fight, 40 seconds,” Cejudo said. “Look at this motherf*cker, and he’s supposed to beat Khamzat Chimaev next f*cking week?”
Covington wrestles Khamzat Chimaev in the main event of RAF Abu Dhabi next Saturday. Given how Covington fared against a bantamweight, Cejudo is understandably skeptical of his chances against a former UFC middleweight champion.
For Usman, who holds two title fight wins over Covington, he was surprised to see the wrestling-minded “Chaos” handled so easily.
“First and foremost, I would say this: That’s not excusable because of your name and the brand that you’ve built,” Usman said. “It’s not excusable. Now us, real fighters and competitors, we know how difficult and how different they are. Super different.
“Wrestling and jiu-jitsu are completely different. So Raul Rosas caught him off guard, got in there, and put him away.”
Fortunately for Covington, the Hype Fighting event might have flew under the radar for the vast majority of fans, so he might receive less backlash than expected for such a disappointing performance. Still, Cejudo and Usman agree that the self-proclaimed “King of Miami” has to show up in his next RAF fight or the damage to his reputation could be far worse.
“Colby Covington, you ain’t the king of shit no more,” Cejudo said, later adding, “This does hurt. I guess people will get over it. If he’s able to come out and beat Khamzat Chimaev, people will forget it, or maybe he’ll get a rematch with Raul Rosas, but I think Raul will probably do that shit again to him.”
“You could see his face,” Usman said. “He was not ready for that level of intensity right away. For a guy that’s supposed to be intense, he was not ready for that level of intensity.”
