‘Amateur and sluggish’ – Colby Covington tears into Paddy Pimblett over Justin Gaethje loss in UFC White House offer

Colby Covington insists Paddy Pimblett was ‘very amateur’ in his defeat to Justin Gaethje at UFC 324.

For that reason, Pimblett would be Covington‘s number one choice to fight on the UFC White House card if it were up to him.

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Pimblett was beaten badly on Saturday night, but was commended for his grit and determination to stand with Gaethje over the five rounds.

The debate over what’s next for ‘The Baddy’ has since been at the epicentre of discussions in the MMA world this week.

One emerging topic is a potential fight at the White House this summer.

The All-American Covington has been calling for his spot on the card ever since it was made official, and after UFC 324, he has a firm idea of who he wants his opponent to be.

Hitting the Pads

“One idea that could be presented is Paddy Pimblett,” Covington told talkSPORT.com, discussing what his future holds.

Covington, who hasn’t fought in the UFC since December 2024, battled Luke Rockhold in his last combat sports outing under the Real American Freestyle (RAF) banner.

The former interim UFC welterweight titleholder used the match to get a feel of a bigger opponent, as he plans to move up from the welterweight division to middleweight upon his UFC return.

However, after attending UFC 324 in Las Vegas, Covington is now favouring a 170lb bout with Pimblett.

“[Pimblett’s] a big guy — he cuts a lot of weight,” Covington added.

“He probably weighs more than me at walk-around weight anyway, and may not want to keep going at 155lbs.

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“So what’s the sense in Paddy going back to lightweight? There are no big fights for him now that he lost to Gaethje.

“I want to present that idea to the UFC — that, ‘Hey, me and Paddy, a British guy and a USA guy, on the White House lawn, would be amazing.’

“I don’t want to fight an American because it doesn’t make sense to fight an American in the American capital on the 250th birthday of America.

“Paddy Pimblett makes sense. He’s got a bowl cut. He’s got an accent. I think the fight would get the fans excited.

“And there’s definitely some turmoil between us. He doesn’t like me, I don’t like him — so let’s get locked in the cage and handle our differences.”

Covington had a run-in with Pimblett last April after the latter defeated Michael Chandler in Miami.

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The pair exchanged verbal blows during a brief interaction backstage, during which Pimblett said he would punch Covington’s face in.

‘Chaos’ is now confident that he could overcome Pimblett after watching the Liverpudlian’s fight with Gaethje.

Froze under the spotlight

“I thought that Justin Gaethje looked really bad, but Paddy looked even worse,” Covington said in a damning assessment of both men’s performance.

“Pimblett didn’t look very good. He looked sluggish. He didn’t look fast — hands down a lot, just very amateur, rookie mistakes that he made.

“But, you know, he’s never been in a main-event spotlight. This is his first time getting the main event spotlight and all that it requires.

“It’s a lot — the media week, the weight cutting, the way the media works.

“What you have to do in the lead-up to the fight is just handle a big load. So I think he realised that it’s a lot tougher up there than he thought it was.

“He was talking a big game, saying he was going to be champion, saying he was going to be this and that, but he’d never been in that spotlight.

“And he got that spotlight, and he didn’t pass the test — he froze under the pressure.”

Covington revealed to talkSPORT.com that he held talks with the UFC in Las Vegas over a potential fight at the White House.

The 37-year-old is ‘praying’ to fight on the South Lawn, claiming he deserves the opportunity and is ‘the number one person’ who should feature on the card.

Having mentioned Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland at middleweight, as well as Stephen Thompson and Gilbert Burns at welterweight, Covington believes a fight with Pimblett trumps all of the above.

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Covington reveals Pimblett is No. 1 pick for White House

“Paddy Pimblett, for sure,” Covington responded when asked who he would pick to fight at the White House if it were his choice.

“I ran into him in Miami, and I wasn’t saying anything to him. He started chirping at me, saying I’m a b****.

“So let’s see if you can back that up, Paddy. You talked a lot of bad things about me.

“I want a respectable fight. I love the UK fans. I’m thankful to be here on talkSPORT today — what a privilege.

“I’ve followed your platform for a long time, and you guys are doing amazing things over in the UK.

“I love all the UK fans; they’re the most passionate fans I’ve ever seen. When I went to the event at The O2 Arena, it was the loudest crowd I’ve ever heard in the world.

“I have a lot of love for the UK fans, and I want to put on a show for them.

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“I know it’ll be hard for them to root for me, you know, fighting their countryman, but that’s okay. I just want to feel their energy and be able to electrify one of those arenas.”

Covington plans to continue as an RAF wrestler after his MMA career is over.

RAF is instilling a vision from the late Hulk Hogan to make wrestling fun again and has already signed a plethora of UFC stars, including Arman Tsarukyan, Chandler and Bo Nickal, to name a few.

Their next event — RAF 6 — sees Henry Cejudo take on Urijah Faber in the main event, with prominent MMA stars like Muhammad Mokaev and Chad Mendes also on the card.

Although Pimblett has said he’s not too fussed with fighting at the White House, a chance to get his hands on Covington in a lucrative bout at the White House may be too good to turn down.

However, Pimblett has revealed his desire to continue at lightweight, with a shot at the division’s undisputed title still very much his number one goal.