Colby Covington Blames Gable Steveson’s UFC Loss on Striking and Jon Jones
Colby Covington did not treat Gable Steveson’s 12-second knockout as a surprise.
The former interim welterweight champion told Submission Radio that Steveson talked himself into a hole, then left his wrestling in the locker room against Sean Sharaf at UFC 331.
“What I can say for him is, you know, I definitely saw this coming,” Covington said. “You know, he was over, he was overhyping himself, overlooking other competitors, you know, other fighters, and he just thought he was invincible.”
Sharaf ended it with a left hook at 0:12 of Round 1 on Saturday in Los Angeles. Steveson fell to 4-1 in his first UFC loss.
Covington still called him a great athlete and an Olympic champion wrestler. The problem, he said, was the style Steveson chose once the cage door shut.
“When you get away from what brought you to the dance, that’s never going to be good for you,” Covington said. “And he’s got away from that. You don’t see him trying to wrestle in any fights, he’s just going straight into striking.”
He floated two explanations and did not pick one.
“I don’t know if that’s because he doesn’t believe in his cardio, or if he just fell in love with the hands and he just wants to knock guys out,” Covington said. “But when you forget about what got you to the dance, that’s always going to be a recipe for disaster.”
Host follow-up turned the conversation toward Jon Jones.
Covington was asked if Steveson aligned himself too closely with Jones during his UFC run.
“Yeah, way, way too much, dude,” Covington said. “Jon Jones is bad energy. That guy’s a demon, man.”
He listed the public record he wanted attached to that point.
“We’ve seen the laundry list of bad things he’s done to women, to people, to cops, I mean, to drug testers,” Covington said. “I mean, you know, he’s just a horrible person, bro. And when you align with yourself and you’re surrounded by that bad energy all the time, it’s gonna rub off on you.”
His advice was a camp change.
“You gotta surround yourself in this life with good people that are like-minded, that work hard, that, you know, have faith in God and aren’t just freaking piece of sh*t people like Jon Jones,” Covington said. “So he should definitely cut Jon Jones and get to a new camp and get focused and start believing and start using your wrestling. What got you the dance?”
Those are Covington’s opinions. They are not a UFC ruling and they are not a medical report on Steveson’s chin.
The tape from Saturday is simpler. Steveson opened with a low kick. Sharaf threw the left hook. The fight was over before wrestling became an option.
Steveson arrived as a massive favorite off a first-round knockout of Elisha Ellison in his UFC debut. Four prior wins had all ended by knockout. The fifth fight showed the other side of that exchange.
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Covington wants the next camp built around the Olympic résumé, not the highlight-reel version of heavyweight.
Steveson has to decide whether that read is noise or a map. Twelve seconds did not leave him much tape to argue with.