Colby Covington: “Belts don’t mean anything anymore”

Top UFC welterweight contender Colby Covington feels that, in 2020, championship belts have lost most of their significance.

In the past, title fights were viewed as the biggest fights of all, but today, Covington believes belts are not required to make big fights.

Covington points to the fact that a grudge match between himself and Jorge Masvidal would do huge business, even without a title on the line.

He believes Jon Jones moving up to heavyweight or taking on UFC middleweight champ Israel Adesanya would also be a blockbuster, with our without titles in play.

“Let’s be honest guys, belts don’t mean anything anymore,” Covington said on the latest episode of Submission Radio. “The belts mean nothing. I mean, the biggest fights that can be made, they’re not with belts anymore. Those aren’t the big fights. Look at me and Jorge Masvidal. There’s no belt. There’s just a real beef, and that’s the biggest fight that can be made. And for Jon, bigger fights are at heavyweight or maybe with Adesanya. That could be his biggest fight. So, there’s really no belts that are needed anymore these days for negotiating and for showing your worth and your drawing power. So, the belt has no relevance to negotiations.”

Colby Covington has not fought since he came up short in a welterweight title fight with Kamaru Usman back in December. At present, the outspoken welterweight contender is looking ahead to his next fight.

In terms of opponents for his next fight, he seems to see three options: a rematch with Usman, a showdown with Masvidal, or a grudge match with another former training partner in Dustin Poirier.

What do you think of this comment from Colby Covington? Have championship belts lost their significance?