Colby Covington wasn’t too impressed with Jon Jones’ big return victory at UFC 285 earlier this month (March 4, 2023).
It was as if “Bones” Jones never left upon arriving in the Octagon against Ciryl Gane in his Heavyweight debut. The former Light Heavyweight kingpin cut through France’s finest with ease, scoring a first-round guillotine choke submission (watch highlights) in just over two minutes.
Most have attested the result to Jones being one of the greatest of all time — if not the greatest — throughout his career. Meanwhile, the re-emergent perennial Welterweight contender and former college roommate of Jones’, Covington, is a little suspicious of how things all played out.
“It looked like Ciryl was scared,” Covington told My MMA News’ James Lynch. “Scared of the moment, too much pressure, he was afraid. Shouldn’t even have been in there that night.
“Honestly, it looked like it was a work,” he added. “It looks like it was a fix. Maybe Jon Jones’ brothers went over to France and told Ciryl that they’re gonna pay him under the table to take a dive because that’s honestly what it looked like.”
Jones’ victory instantly launched him back to the top of UFC’s official pound-for-pound rankings list, surpassing recent battling champions at Lightweight and Featherweight, Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski.
Despite Covington’s uncertainty regarding the win’s legitimacy, “Chaos” isn’t complaining about Jones retaking that spot.
“He probably should,” Covington said. “He’s never lost a fight in the Octagon. He has that one loss, it’s a DQ, but his body of work definitely speaks a lot more volumes than Islam [Makhachev]. He hasn’t even defended the belt yet, so I have no problem with that.”
Covington is expected to be next in line for reigning Welterweight titleholder, Leon Edwards.