Colby Covington confident American wrestling will ‘out-smoke’ Dagestani wrestling style of Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov

Colby Covington is confident that American Wrestling is superior to Dagestani style of Wrestling. Colby says "Right Match-ups" favoured Dagestani Wrestling in the past


Colby Covington confident American wrestling will ‘out-smoke’ Dagestani wrestling style of Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov

Colby Covington and Khabib Nurmagomedov wrestling (Image Courtesy - Daily Star)

Colby Covington has finally returned after almost a year away from public appearances. The street attack from Jorge Masvidal left him on the sidelines for a long time. At UFC 286, he returned with a firm focus on the Welterweight title belt. Since then, he has been taking shots at everyone. In an interview with James Lynch, Colby stated that American Wrestling is the superior form of Wrestling, taking shots at the Dagestani style of Wrestling followed by Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makachev.

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Taking shots at Dagestani’s style of Wrestling, Colby said, “They’ve been able to fight guys that didn’t have wrestling backgrounds, you know. If they fought a guy that was a USA level wrestler like Olympic level wrestler, they are gonna get smoked, it is not even gonna be competitive. American wrestling is much better, much more revolutionizing. Just a better style of wrestling that works in the UFC. You know, these guys have just been able to capitalize. Right time, right place, with the right matchups.”

It is unclear which form of Wrestling is superior. Both styles have produced Champions in the UFC and other promotions. Daniel Cormier, Kamaru Usman, Henry Cejudo, Aljamain Sterling and Tyron Woodley came from an American Wrestling background and won the UFC title. Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makachev came from the Dagestani wrestling style to win the UFC gold.  

Both styles have their own merits and flaws. However, Colby feels American Wrestling is the better style, which is his opinion. It cannot be counted as a fact unless some data proves his statement. Colby Covington is getting the next shot at the Welterweight title. UFC is trying to book a fight against Leon Edwards for the PPV card at International Fight Week.

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Related: “The guy couldn’t hold my jockstrap” – Colby Covington goes on a rant for the ages addressing ‘unprofessional dogface’ Khamzat Chimaev

Colby Covington is top 10 among takedowns landed in the UFC

Colby Covington
Colby Covington (Image Courtesy – MMA Underground)

Former Champion Colby Covington is not wrong to say that American Wrestling is good. It is unclear if it is better than Dagestani Wrestling, but it is effective. The career of Colby Covington is a great example of the effectiveness of American Wrestling. As of today, Colby Covington makes the Top 10 list for most takedowns landed in UFC.

Colby has not fought in a year. Also, since 2020, he has only fought three times. Despite the inactivity, Colby is still among the Top 10 fighters, landing 67 takedowns in his UFC career. Demian Maia and Nik Lentz are just above him, who have departed the UFC. If Colby keeps active, he can enter the top 5 of the all-time list for most takedowns. Surprisingly, Khabib Nurmagomedov or Islam Makachev makes the top 10.

The list is led by George St-Pierre, with 90 takedowns in his UFC career. The list also includes former UFC fighter Demetrius Johnson and Gleison Tibau. The other active fighter in the top five is Merab Dvalishvili, who looks set to break the all-time record of George St-Pierre.

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