GDT: UFC 296: Edwards vs. Covington

[CDJ]

Robbie Lawler was ranked #2 when RDA beat him and Colby beat RDA in his next fight. Don't agree with discrediting his win over RDA.

As for Royval - no. He's an exciting fighter who has routinely lost to the top of a very shallow division. Saying that Pantoja win over him is bigger than Colby over RDA is just dumb.

Not arguing that Colby deserved this shot or is as good as the opportunities he's been given. I'm sure every MMA fan would agree with that.

Colby cardioing a past his prime 155er is absolutely less impressive than a title win over an in-prime challenger, sorry it is what it is imo. Maybe if Royval was an atomweight I would agree, but he’s actually closer to a 135er than that.

That version of Robbie Lawler you talk about didn’t win a fight for 4 years until he faced a washed up, out of shape Nick Diaz. You can call it dumb but that’s just a fact. RDA is an all-time lightweight who beat Neil Magny as his best win at 170 . He’s not a welterweight. Was he still talented when he fought Colby? Sure, he’s still talented now. He’s just a 155er so of course he’s going to lose to a larger welterweight wrestler. And the fact remains Colby has never beaten a legitimate welterweight contender in their prime. RDA is the closest and he’s not gonna get remembered as a 170lber so that says it all


His run to his first title shot was Barberena (the most in-prime welterweight he’s ever fought), washed up stungun who immediately retired, washed up Maia, past his prime RDA up a weight class, and washed up Lawler. He finished zero of them. There are 0 signature wins in his entire career. His only finish since Obama was president was a guy who hurt his rib trying to get up. That guy was viciously finished by a YouTuber a year later. He had a cherry-picked run by the ufc and he did absolutely nothing with his Dana White Privilege

 

[m9]

Colby cardioing a past his prime 155er is absolutely less impressive than a title win over an in-prime challenger, sorry it is what it is imo. Maybe if Royval was an atomweight I would agree, but he’s actually closer to a 135er than that.

That version of Robbie Lawler you talk about didn’t win a fight for 4 years until he faced a washed up, out of shape Nick Diaz. You can call it dumb but that’s just a fact. RDA is an all-time lightweight who beat Neil Magny as his best win at 170 . He’s not a welterweight. Was he still talented when he fought Colby? Sure, he’s still talented now. He’s just a 155er so of course he’s going to lose to a larger welterweight wrestler. And the fact remains Colby has never beaten a legitimate welterweight contender in their prime.

You are just cherry-picking timelines. Discrediting where Lawler was at when RDA beat him is just really weak.

It's funny you consider Royval some great challenger, his resume of losing to top fighters and gaining title shots from beating lesser competition is basically exactly what Colby is.

 

[CDJ]

You are just cherry-picking timelines. Discrediting where Lawler was at when RDA beat him is just really weak.

It's funny you consider Royval some great challenger, his resume of losing to top fighters and gaining title shots from beating lesser competition is basically exactly what Colby is.

Again, Lawler didn’t win for 4 years after that. It probably would’ve been 6 years but the ufc decided to trot out a sad Nick Diaz to make a buck. Robbie was in his late 30s in a weight class where guys in their late 30s don’t win (LT references this all the time at WW and backs it up with stats) and guess what? he basically didnt win until he beat a chinned Niko! This was also after his multiple wars which probably have taken some time off his life (this statement may be confusing as it applies to both Robbie and Niko lol). I’m sorry I don’t think Lawler at that point is a great win. You can consider it discrediting if you want to, I consider those things statements of indisputable fact.

I don’t think Royval is some great challenger. THATS THE WHOLE POINT. Thats how unimpressive Colby’s resume is when you actually sit down and look at it. This is far from the first time I’ve made this argument and it’s probably not going to be the last. At least Royval is an in-prime fighter from that actual weight class that has good wins against other in-prime fighters from that weight class. And Pantoja beat him in a title fight. Way more of a signature win than anything Colby did.




Stungun: 36
Maia: 40
RDA: 34 but had been fighting since ufc 91 and is truly a LW
Lawler: 37
Woodley: 38
Masvidal: 38

Those are his wins. Maybe he can start booking fights at the old folks home now that he’s not getting another title shot

 

[m9]

Again, Lawler didn’t win for 4 years after that. It probably would’ve been 6 years but the ufc decided to trot out a sad Nick Diaz to make a buck. Robbie was in his late 30s in a weight class where guys in their late 30s don’t win (LT references this all the time at WW and backs it up with stats) and guess what? he basically didnt win until he beat a chinned Niko! This was also after his multiple wars which probably have taken some time off his life (this statement may be confusing as it applies to both Robbie and Niko lol). I’m sorry I don’t think Lawler at that point is a great win. You can consider it discrediting if you want to, I consider those things a statement of indisputable fact.

You can't just ignore what Lawler had done in the five fights leading up to RDA though. It's not all about what happened after.

I don’t think Royval is some great challenger. THATS THE WHOLE POINT. Thats how unimpressive Colby’s resume is when you actually sit down and look at it. At least Royval is an in-prime fighter from that actual weight class that has good wins against other in-prime fighters from that weight class. And Pantoja beat him in a title fight. Way more of a signature win than anything Colby did.

I don't know why you're so fixated on this weight thing. Lots of guys move between divisions. I've never argued that Colby's resume is good, I've just said the RDA win is a good one.

 

[CDJ]

You can't just ignore what Lawler had done in the five fights leading up to RDA though. It's not all about what happened after.



I don't know why you're so fixated on this weight thing. Lots of guys move between divisions. I've never argued that Colby's resume is good, I've just said the RDA win is a good one.

I’m not ignoring it- I’m doing the opposite actually. He was in brutal car crashes with MacDonald and Condit that led to the clear and visible deterioration of his ability. He also had just recently gotten sparked by Woodley. 3 of those 5 fights he took significant trauma. There’s a reason why he didn’t win in forever, it’s not because he was still the same guy he was in his prime.


And if you want to call that a good win then I guess be my guest. I tend to consider good wins to be against people who are in their prime and not very undersized for the weight class. Maybe if he stopped RDA I’d give him more credit but nah, he did his usual snoozefest against a smaller/older man. Hardly a signature win in my opinion. Pantoja at least beat a relevant 31 YO fighter coming off an incredible finish against another top 10 fighter in his division. And don’t get me started with Pantoja’s last fight, that Moreno win is infinitely better than anything Colby has done.

As an aside it’s hilarious this guy had the audacity to call Kamaru “Snoozeman”

 

[m9]

I’m not ignoring it- I’m doing the opposite actually. He was in brutal car crashes with MacDonald and Condit that led to the clear and visible deterioration of his ability. He also had just recently gotten sparked by Woodley. 3 of those 5 fights he took significant trauma. There’s a reason why he didn’t win in forever, it’s not because he was still the same guy he was in his prime.


And if you want to call that a good win then I guess be my guest. I tend to consider good wins to be against people who are in their prime and not very undersized for the weight class. Maybe if he stopped RDA I’d give him more credit but nah, he did his usual snoozefest against a smaller/older man. Hardly a signature win in my opinion. Pantoja at least beat a relevant 31 YO fighter coming off an incredible finish against another top 10 fighter in his division. And don’t get me started with Pantoja’s last fight, that Moreno win is infinitely better than anything Colby has done.

As an aside it’s hilarious this guy had the audacity to call Kamaru “Snoozeman”

RDA was 33 when he fought Colby, he wasn't that old.

Obviously Pantoja over Moreno is a better win than anything Colby has done.

 

[pistolpete11]

RDA is a solid win even at WW, but I don't think it takes away from the overall point. It's not a signature win. Especially since it was a relatively close, grindfest decision.

 

[CDJ]

RDA was 33 when he fought Colby, he wasn't that old.

Obviously Pantoja over Moreno is a better win than anything Colby has done.

33 isn’t super old for sure, but when you factor in that RDA had been fighting since UFC 91 that’s a ton of mileage. And then you have Colby the cardio wrestler who is both 4 years younger and bigger. It went predictably. It’s for sure Colby’s best win and I don’t mean to shit on a legend like RDA but you can qualify that win with the things I’ve said (RDA older, smaller, was a boring decision) so I find it hard to call that a signature win. But maybe that’s just my interpretation of what a signature win is- it’s not necessarily the right interpretation. I obviously think it is though lol

 

[pistolpete11]

It's funny talking about Colby not having any wins over currently ranked WW's.

Leon before fighting Usman only had 1 (Luque) and it was 5 years prior.

Meanwhile, Belal has beaten Wonderboy, Luque, Brady, and Burns in a row and still isn't guaranteed to get a title shot.

I guess at least Shavkat has Magny, Neal, and Wonderboy and if it's not Belal, it will probably be Shavkat.

WW was kind of a mess giving Usman rematches against Colby, Masvidal, and Edwards. Hopefully with a bit of a queue forming now, they will get this division moving and "Make WW Great Again".

 

[CDJ]

It's funny talking about Colby not having any wins over currently ranked WW's.

Leon before fighting Usman only had 1 (Luque) and it was 5 years prior.

Meanwhile, Belal has beaten Wonderboy, Luque, Brady, and Burns in a row and still isn't guaranteed to get a title shot.

I guess at least Shavkat has Magny, Neal, and Wonderboy and if it's not Belal, it will probably be Shavkat.

WW was kind of a mess giving Usman rematches against Colby, Masvidal, and Edwards. Hopefully with a bit of a queue forming now, they will get this division moving and "Make WW Great Again".

I forgot Leon had a meh decision win over WW RDA just like Colby lol

 

[m9]

It's funny talking about Colby not having any wins over currently ranked WW's.

Leon before fighting Usman only had 1 (Luque) and it was 5 years prior.

Meanwhile, Belal has beaten Wonderboy, Luque, Brady, and Burns in a row and still isn't guaranteed to get a title shot.

I guess at least Shavkat has Magny, Neal, and Wonderboy and if it's not Belal, it will probably be Shavkat.

WW was kind of a mess giving Usman rematches against Colby, Masvidal, and Edwards. Hopefully with a bit of a queue forming now, they will get this division moving and "Make WW Great Again".

I think it's worked out for Belal here. They can do a UK PPV card with Aspinall/Gane & Belal/Edwards. He just can't sell a ppv like he would have had to here and with the uk guys at home he doesn't have to.

 

[pistolpete11]

I forgot Leon had a meh decision win over WW RDA just like Colby lol

I was going to say so did Usman, but Usman kind of put it on him if memory serves.

 

[I am not exposed]

Shavkat almost didn't fight because of an ankle injury:

Shavkat Rakhmonov suffered ‘very serious’ ankle injury prior to UFC 296 win over Stephen Thompson

Shavkat Rakhmonov was seemingly fighting on one leg at UFC 296.

www.mmafighting.com

 

[16Skippy]

I’m glad Edwards won, and even more glad the audience no-sold Colby’s speech. That’s hopefully the last we see of him in a main event, but who knows. He’s already gotten at least two title fights he didn’t deserve.

To people (not necessarily here but in general) who say Belal is too boring to deserve a title shot, there’s no way he could have done a worse job than Colby did here.

And I don’t have a problem with Edwards being measured and not super aggressive, but if I had to nitpick it might be a little concerning that it’s now two fights where he was getting a clear one sided decision but managed to give away the last round.

 

[m9]

I’m glad Edwards won, and even more glad the audience no-sold Colby’s speech. That’s hopefully the last we see of him in a main event, but who knows. He’s already gotten at least two title fights he didn’t deserve.

To people (not necessarily here but in general) who say Belal is too boring to deserve a title shot, there’s no way he could have done a worse job than Colby did here.

And I don’t have a problem with Edwards being measured and not super aggressive, but if I had to nitpick it might be a little concerning that it’s now two fights where he was getting a clear one sided decision but managed to give away the last round.

The issue isn't how boring Belal is in the fight, the issue is that nobody cares about him selling the fight. This PPV probably did decent and that's carried by Colby - there would have been far less interest in Edwards/Belal.

But, it's time. The UFC either has to put that fight as a main event on a loaded card, co-main to another title fight, or just say f*** it and headline a card and just take the hit.

It makes too much sense to pair it with Aspinall on a UK PPV next June/July.

 

[Avs_19]

I have to say (I'm sure it was very apparent already), I'm very much enjoying everyone from Dana, the media, fans, etc all just trashing Colby in the aftermath of this. Couldn't happen to a better guy.

He has bounced back before and been gifted opportunities even after the UFC wasn't happy with him so I wouldn't say it's game over but this at least feels different in the immediate days following the event.

 

[I am not exposed]

I have to say (I'm sure it was very apparent already), I'm very much enjoying everyone from Dana, the media, fans, etc all just trashing Colby in the aftermath of this. Couldn't happen to a better guy.

He has bounced back before and been gifted opportunities even after the UFC wasn't happy with him so I wouldn't say it's game over but this at least feels different in the immediate days following the event.

Even Donald Trump seemed embarrassed.

 

[MMC]

 

[Sheppy]

Thats actually super cool ^

Josh Emmett has insane power, man. I don't know if there's a guy in that division with that much one punch power.

 

[Sheppy]

Give me Ferguson vs Guida or something. Both can retire.

Guida probably walks Ferguson like a dog.

 

[m9]

Give me Ferguson vs Guida or something. Both can retire.

Guida probably walks Ferguson like a dog.

I'm good with that.

I think Guida & Joe Lauzon are pretty much the only 155ers I would want Tony to fight.

I would probably rather he fights a blown-up 145er at UFC300. Cub Swanson, Alex Caceres, Ryan Hall, Kron Gracie.. someone like that.

 

[Neutrinos]

Tony Ferguson has just announced a move to heavyweight where he intends to take on Derrick Lewis

 

[Avs_19]

The impression at the end.