Colby Covington is set to face off against Robbie Lawler in the main event of UFC on ESPN 5 on August 3rd in Newark, New Jersey. There is a lot at stake for Colby in this fight, as he can get a ticket to a title fight against division king, Kamaru Usman, but he can also use this as an opportunity to take out the man who left his team a couple of years ago.
Betting Odds
Despite not fighting for over a year due to a sinus surgery, Covington is easily the betting favorite according to most bookies, coming in with odds of -250 on Betway, compared to +188 for Robbie Lawler. This might surprise some people, as Lawler is an all-time great fighter, but he is getting up there in age, so the younger and faster Covington is a clear favorite for most people including bookmakers. You can see all the UFC betting Canada offers to place a bet on the fight yourself.
Even though this is the main event, there are other fights going on that day that you should look at if you are looking to bet on UFC fights. Oezdemir and Latifi will face off with equal odds of winning at -115. Guida and Jim Miller will also fight, with the former being the favorite at -185 compared to +150. Another interesting fight could be Espinosa versus Schnell. In this all-American fight, Espinosa is the favorite with winning odds of -170, while Schnell comes in with +140.
Colby Covington
Colby “Chaos” Covington has never been one to shy away from trash talking his opponents. He didn’t back away from doing that leading up to this fight either, saying that he will leave Robbie Lawler in a pool of his own blood for leaving the American Top Team. However, he is a little contradicting in his statements this time around, as he has also stated that “there is no better fight to defend his title against than “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler”, who he also considers to be the last great champion of the division, besides himself of course.
Covington is known for his supreme confidence no matter who he faces, but from most of his statements, we can see that he has a lot of respect for Robbie Lawler and will make sure that he brings his A-game on August 3 if he wants to defeat him. And to be fair, if Colby Covington brings his A-game against anyone in the UFC, he has a very strong chance of winning.
Robbie Lawler
Lawler left American Top Team after the gym featured a photo of Tyron Woodley with his hands up after defeating “Ruthless” for the welterweight title. However, he has since moved past that and refused to reply to Colby after his comments, saying that he is “just talking” and that he is only focused on the fight, and not what anyone else says. He also praised Covington for his tremendous work ethic and ability in the octagon.
Lawler has held the welterweight title between December 2014 and July 2016, until he suffered a first-round knockout at the hands of Tyron Woodley, which as we mentioned, led to him leaving ATT. Since then, he has fought just three times, beating Donald Cerrone before losing to Dos Anjos and Ben Askren.
It is clear that both fighters have a lot of respect for each other, despite their somewhat rocky past. It will be a real pleasure to watch them go at it on August 3rd in Newark. It is also expected that members of the Trump family will be in attendance.
