Ex-UFC lightweight defends Colby Covington amid criticism following loss to Joaquin Buckley: "Can't reenact real fight speed in the gym"

Former UFC lightweight recently defended Colby Covington amid criticism following his latest loss to Joaquin Buckley at UFC Tampa in December 2024. It was Covington's second consecutive loss as he lost a unanimous decision to then welterweight champion Leon Edwards the previous year.

Following his loss to Buckley, the former interim welterweight champion received plenty of criticism from the MMA community for having a significant decline. Some fans even went as far as saying that he could only defeat fighters past their prime and received opportunities due to his trash talk rather than ability.

During his latest appearance on JAXXON PODCAST, Josh Thomson defended 'Chaos' by saying he was in fact among the top welterweights in the world. Thomson mentioned that inactivity was Covington's detriment because fighters only have a limited window to achieve success:

"People said [Covington] was never really that good. No, his window of opportunity is only about two years when you're fighting the peak guys and he fought Kamaru Usman...He's a dog but look, that window of opportunity is this small, man...Your training only gets you so far because you can't reenact real fight speed in the gym...It's all different, so you have to fight, you have to keep that going and continuously get better." [1:31:15]

Check out the full episode featuring Josh Thomson's comments regarding Colby Covington below:

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Ex-UFC lightweight Josh Thomson discusses importance for fighters to plan their exit from MMA

In addition to sharing his thoughts on Colby Covington, former UFC competitor Josh Thomson stressed the importance for fighters to plan their exit from MMA.

Thomson suggested that having an exit plan could result in a better quality of life for fighters at the end of their respective careers:

"A lot of these guys don't plan their exit. They have no clue what they're gonna do after fighting. They haven't even started pointing in the right direction of what they're gonna do...Whether to either become trainers at a gym or to open up a food shop...[Fighting] consumed our lives. Where do you go after that?...And that is what's dangerous cause that's how they end up getting into drugs, alcohol, that's how they end up just broke."

Check out ex-UFC lightweight Josh Thomson's comments below: