Covington Says Gaethje Gloves Looked Off-Color After Topuria Claim
Colby Covington said Justin Gaethje’s wraps looked unusual after Ilia Topuria revived questions about the gloves from their lightweight title fight.
Covington spoke to Helen Yee as the former champion returned to the topic this week.
“It definitely looked like there was something in his glove,” Covington said. “Like I don’t know what to say. Like it looked like off color. It didn’t look like the taping of like your hands. You know how all the UFC fighters get their hands wrapped? It looked like an off color like yellow. It didn’t look like white tape.”
He stopped short of calling it proof. In the same conversation, Covington said he does not like to speculate and that Topuria “lost the fight fair and square.”
Gaethje took the undisputed lightweight title from Topuria on June 14 at UFC Freedom 250 on the South Lawn of the White House.
Topuria’s corner stopped the fight after the fourth round. The Georgian suffered two broken orbital bones and heavy swelling around the eyes.
Online talk about “rocks” or extra material in Gaethje’s gloves started almost immediately. Gaethje and trainer Trevor Wittman treated it as a backhanded compliment on The Joe Rogan Experience.
“People saying I got bricks in my gloves, what a compliment,” Gaethje said.
Topuria brought the claim back this week after saying he had passed his final medicals and was cleared to fight again.
“Next time I’ll make sure they check Justin’s gloves so he doesn’t put anything weird on them,” Topuria wrote on X.
That is the comment Covington was asked about.
A regulator from the White House card has already answered the same charge. Andy Foster, executive director of the California State Athletic Commission and one of three officials at the event, told USA TODAY the equipment was legal.
“His gloves and wraps were fine and totally within regulations,” Foster said. “Also well inspected by multiple inspectors.”
John McCarthy said Wittman wrapped Gaethje’s hands with a state inspector watching the entire process.
Arman Tsarukyan called Topuria’s remarks excuses. He said commissions stand there and check the gloves, and that Topuria should start with what he did wrong in the fight.
Covington is not new to this line. In July he told MMA Fighting that Gaethje’s wraps “look so much different than any wrap I’ve ever seen in UFC history.”
He also said then that Gaethje “still sucks” and that Topuria’s mind was on a public divorce. Those were opinions, not findings.
The new comments sit in a narrower place. Covington agrees the tape looked yellow instead of the usual white. He also says Gaethje’s hand was raised cleanly and that he would like to see the fight again.
Gaethje is 28-5 overall and 11-5 in the UFC. He is the reigning lightweight champion.
Topuria is 17-1 and 9-1 in the UFC after his first career loss. He has said he wants the rematch now that he is medically cleared.
No athletic commission has announced a rules violation from June. Foster’s statement is the closest thing to an official close on the wraps.
That leaves the lightweight picture where it was before the social media burst. Gaethje holds the belt. Topuria wants it back. Covington is adding his eyes to a claim the event regulator has already rejected.
If the rematch gets booked, the next inspection will be public in a way the first one was not. Until then, the only documented finding is that Gaethje’s gloves and wraps were cleared on fight night.