Colby Covington dominated Robbie Lawler en route to a decision victory in the main event of UFC Newark.
A possible welterweight title eliminator main-evented UFC Newark. Colby Covington hasn’t been seen in the octagon since June of 2018, where he defeated Rafael Dos Anjos to earn the interim welterweight title. Covington was then stripped of his title for his refusal to fight champion Tyron Woodley at UFC 228. Dana White has said that if he won his fight against Robbie Lawler, he would get a title shot against champion Kamaru Usman sometime in the future.
Robbie Lawler goes into this main-event bout having lost three of his last four bouts. Lawler last fought at UFC 235, where suffered a controversial submission to Ben Askren, in the latter’s promotional debut. Prior to that, he lost to Rafael Dos Anjos via decision. His sole victory since 2017 is a decision victory over Donald Cerrone.
Lawler predictably came out throwing heavy strikes, landing big blows. Colby briefly traded with the former champion, then shot for a predictable takedown. Covington got the takedown, but Lawler returned to his feet with a big elbow, before being dragged down again. Covington then got Lawler’s back and looked for the choke. Lawler would survive and return to his feet, before being dragged down again where Covington would look for the choke. Lawler would return to his feet and the round would end with Covington flurry.
Covington took Lawler down with the double-leg to start the round. Lawler got back to his feet, where he was soon taken down again. Lawler got back up, was taken down again where he got the back. Lawler got back to his feet, and the two traded against the cage with Covington throwing strikes at a ruthless pace. Robbie was using the rope-a-dope style as Covington was missing almost all of his strikes due to Robbie slipping them. However round two was again a clear Covington round.
Covington began the round with a successful takedown, however, Lawler would soon return to his feet. Lawler was attempting to push the pressure more in round three, but he still wasn’t throwing much. He would land decent strikes when he threw, but he wasn’t throwing. For every strike Lawler threw, Covington would throw five of them. Covington passed 200 strikes in the third round en route to another clear round for Chaos.
The fourth round was similar to the third. Lawler was pushing forward and landing a few shots, but none were doing anything. Covington mixed up his leg kicks, jabs, and hooks incredibly nicely. He also scored a nice takedown on Lawler in the fourth, with Lawler returning to his feet not much longer. By the end of round four, Covington had cleared an incredible 400 strikes attempted.
Covington started round five with a nice flurry capped off with a flying knee, letting it known that he’s still not tired. Lawler landed a couple of really hard hooks midway through the round, however, those were his best strikes in the round. Covington continued with his pace, throwing everything at Lawler. Lawler looked for a flurry in the last ten seconds, but Covington countered his pressure with a spinning backfist to open Lawler up and secure his victory.
Love him or hate him, Colby Covington is legit. Throwing over 500 strikes and dominating a legend like Robbie Lawler isn’t easy, and that’s what Colby did. We’ll see if he gets a title shot next, but you can’t argue that he shouldn’t be in the conversation.
Colby Covington def. Robbie Lawler by Unanimous Decision (50-44, 50-45 x2)
Check out all the results from UFC Newark here!
