Colby Covington’s immediate future took a hard hit when Raul Rosas Jr. submitted him at Hype Italy less than two weeks before his scheduled meeting with Khamzat Chimaev. The loss arrived at the worst possible moment for Covington, who was supposed to wrestle Chimaev later in the month atop the RAF Abu Dhabi fight card in the UAE.
That is why the finish is drawing so much attention now. Covington entered the moment as the promotion’s No. 1-ranked fighter and had dominated Arman Tsarukyan at RAF 11 in July, a run that made the quick submission look even more jarring. Instead of building on that momentum, he was put away by Rosas before the Chimaev bout could even begin to feel routine.
Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman made that point bluntly on the Pound 4 Pound podcast. Cejudo said Covington was taken down and double-legged in about 40 seconds, then mocked the timing of the loss by asking, “Look at this motherf*cker, and he’s supposed to beat Khamzat Chimaev next f*cking week?” He added, “Colby Covington, you ain’t the king of sh*t no more.” Cejudo also said he thought Rosas would probably do that again in a rematch.
Usman was just as direct. He said the loss was not excusable because of Covington’s name and the brand he had built, then added that Rosas caught him off guard and put him away. Usman also said Covington was not ready for that level of intensity right away, a criticism that cut deeper because it came after a fighter who was still carrying a No. 1 ranking into a major card.
What happens next is now the central question. Covington was still scheduled to face Chimaev later in the month, but the submission has changed the conversation around that matchup and left his standing under fresh scrutiny at the exact moment he needed a clean runway into it.
