Colby Covington Blames Jon Jones for Gable Steveson's 12-Second KO Loss

Gable Steveson's 12-second knockout loss to Sean Sharaf at UFC 331 was ugly enough on its own. Now Colby Covington has turned it into a referendum on Jon Jones, telling Ariel Helwani that Steveson's biggest problem isn't his chin — it's his cornerman. Steveson, an Olympic gold medalist now 4-1 (4 KO) in MMA, had finished every prior opponent inside the opening round before Sharaf flipped the script in one of the sport's bigger recent upsets.

Covington's pitch was blunt: ditch Jones, change camps, go find real sparring. He called Steveson's exit from the cage before the official decision embarrassing, then unloaded on Jones with a string of personal attacks, arguing that the heavyweight legend's "energy" is quietly sinking Steveson's career. For the record, Covington is 17-5 and coming off a doctor's-stoppage TKO loss to Joaquin Buckley in his most recent outing.

The Roommate Backstory

This isn't new territory for either man. Covington and Jones shared a dorm at Iowa Central Community College long before either reached the UFC, and the relationship curdled into one of the sport's longer-running grudges once both got famous. Covington trashes Jones roughly once a quarter; Jones answers. Tuesday was simply the latest installment, with Steveson's loss serving as the excuse.

Covington doesn't actually expect Steveson to leave. He framed it as a hype problem — that Steveson enjoys the clout of training alongside one of the greatest fighters alive too much to walk away from Jackson-Wink. In Covington's telling, the association is the ceiling, not the launchpad.

Jones Punches Back

Jones didn't let it sit long. On social media, he suggested Covington had the wrong target entirely, noting it was Kamaru Usman — not Jones — who rearranged Covington's face. He leaned hard on the scoreboard too: he's an undefeated-feeling 28-1 (11 KO, 7 SUB), a former heavyweight champion coming off a third-round TKO title defense, while Covington is unranked at welterweight and winless in his last appearance.

Jones also went after the optics, claiming he moves through the world solo while Covington needs full-time security, and reminding everyone that two guys who started in the same dorm room have ended up in wildly different places. He said he genuinely hopes Covington feels better someday — then noted how much it sucks to address him. Again. Whether any of this changes Steveson's camp situation is another matter; for now it's just two old roommates doing what they do.