Colby Covington’s UFC career ended in a disappointing fashion, but he still had some memorable victories on MMA’s biggest stage.
The former interim UFC welterweight champion will mainly have his eyes on Real American Freestyle moving forward, having already gone 3-0 in the wrestling organization in 2026.
That renewed focus comes after Covington announced his UFC retirement, a move he claims was in order to eliminate any restrictions to who he can face in RAF.
Many fans have debated Covington’s legacy after he failed to become undisputed champ in three attempts. For Jon Anik, ‘Chaos’ will always be responsible for an all-time display inside the Octagon.
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Jon Anik lauds Colby Covington’s 2019 win over UFC legend Robbie Lawler
After beating Rafael dos Anjos to become interim titleholder at 170 pounds, Covington was out for over a year.
When he returned, no longer holding UFC gold, the former decorated collegiate wrestler put on arguably the top performance of his career in mixed martial arts.
Covington dominated former champion Robbie Lawler in the main event of a 2019 UFC Fight Night in Newark.
The five-round display from ‘Chaos’ was so great that Anik still remembers it as among the best he has ever witnessed.
“When Colby Covington beat Robbie Lawler, August 3 of 2019, that was one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen,” the UFC play-by-play commentator said on his Anik & Florian Podcast.
“The mix of offense, takedowns, and strikes (was) otherworldly,” he added.
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Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Jon Anik would not put Colby Covington in the UFC Hall of Fame
Despite that, Anik still would not throw his support behind Covington finding his way into the UFC Hall of Fame down the line given what followed the Lawler win.
“At that point in time, though, he was not in defense of a belt. He had been stripped of his UFC interim welterweight championship due to injury, and then he never won the undisputed title.
“On the way out (he) competed once in 2020, once in 2021, once in 2022, once in 2023, once in 2024. Dana White is the entire voting body, and it’s not always about the Hall of Fame. Covington and his third lung and his cardio and his MMA wrestling…
2026-06-05 06:00:00
