Jon Jones is still swinging at Colby Covington. The latest shot, per Sportskeeda, came online, where Jones said he would “beat him like a stepchild” as the two former college roommates went at it again this week.
Covington started this round. In an interview with Ariel Helwani, he went after Gable Steveson, the Olympic gold medalist Jones has been working with, and then pinned the blame for Steveson’s loss squarely on Jones.
That loss was ugly. Sean Sharaf knocked Steveson out in 12 seconds at UFC 331 on Sept. 19 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, with Jones in his corner. Steveson had talked down to Sharaf before the fight and then left the cage before the official announcement, which is the part Covington couldn’t stand. “Dude, you’ve always been a winner, and you’ve won your whole life; take your loss like a man,” Covington said.
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Then he turned the cannon on his old roommate. “I think a lot of bad energy comes onto him from Jon Jones,” Covington said, before running through a list of accusations about steroids, failed tests and Jones’ personal life. He told Steveson to change camps, find real sparring and get Jones out of his corner. He also said he doubted Steveson would leave Jones and Jackson-Wink. “He just likes the attention,” Covington said.
Jones didn’t wait long. On social media he wrote, “Colby, I think your deep hatred is directed at the wrong Black guy. It was [Kamaru] Usman who broke your face, not me.” He defended Steveson, noting the wrestler had finished every opponent in the first round before getting caught, and took a jab at Covington needing full-time security at home while Jones travels alone. Then the dorm-room shot: “We started off in the same dorm room, yet I’ve earned and achieved literally ten times more than you have.”
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The dorm room in question was at Iowa Central Community College, where the two lived together before either one sniffed a UFC contract. The beef has been running for years since. The Spinnin Backfist account summed it up by calling it the annual Jones vs. Covington feud.
Jones, whose record sits at 28-1, called himself an undefeated fighter in his reply. Covington, meanwhile, was busy on his media run. He also told Helwani that Carlos Prates has “no chance” against Islam Makhachev.
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My take: Covington had a fair point buried in there, because walking out before the announcement is bad form, and then he buried it under a pile of insults until nobody could find it. Jones landed the cleaner shot with the Usman line, and the stepchild bit is the kind of thing that sounds better at 1 a.m. than in print. None of this changes the one fact that matters for Steveson: he got starched by Sharaf in 12 seconds, and the only reply that counts is whatever he does in his next fight.
