Colby Covington Believes Association with Jon Jones is to Blame for Gable Stevenson's Loss

Gable Steveson might have started a heated discussion with his humiliating loss against Sean Sharaf at UFC 331.

Colby Covington has Nothing Good to Say About Jon Jones

The pre-fight rivalry reached its maximum tension when The Smoke accused Steveson of being a rapist.

“This guy raped a woman in 2019, and that's why everyone is booing him.”

The two-time NCAA Division I national champion and two-time Dan Hodge Trophy winner Steveson called Sharaf “A coward” for bringing up old dirty laundry. “He's here because of me, and this should be a great opportunity to go against Gable Steveson," he added.

The fighter had faith in his performance in the cage. And having two-division world champion Jon Jones in his corner definitely boosted that confidence. This intense back-and-forth definitely had fans holding their breath.

Unfortunately for Steveson's fans, they didn't have to hold it for too long. Steveson left the octagon swiftly after a 12-second KO ended the fight. Many have given their two cents regarding this great UFC upset, including Colby Covington. He blames not just Steveson’s fighting techniques but also his association with the very controversial Jon Jones.

“Jon Jones is bad energy. That guy is a demon, man.” He continued, “And you know, when you align with yourself, and you're surrounded by that bad energy all the time, it's going to rub off on you.”

He then advised Steveson to focus on his wrestling because that’s what “brought you to the dance”.

🚨 Colby Covington says the reason behind Gable Steveson’s loss was a mix of not wrestling and associating himself too much with Jon Jones.

🗣“Jon Jones is bad energy. That guy is a demon, man. We've seen the long laundry list of of bad things he's done to women, to people, to… pic.twitter.com/TkAEiILzmr

— FightLuck (@FightluckBet) September 21, 2026

Even before this loss, many definitely had their eyebrows raised regarding Jones mentoring Steveson. Retired UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub explicitly said, “There's only one Jon Jones” on  The Schaub Show.

“The reason he’s the GOAT is because of what he did inside the Octagon. He’s not the GOAT as far as outside the Octagon.”

Jon Jones has been a regular training partner for Gable Steveson for a while now. Steveson even teased his possible comeback to the media earlier this month.

However, now faced with this cold defeat, it will be interesting to see how things work out.

 Gable Steveson's Manager Abe Kawa Refuses to take This Defeat as an End

The American MMA prodigy left the cage after a twelve-second knockout by his opponent, Sean Sharaf. But his manager made it clear that this loss is only a step towards further success. Steveson's manager Abe Kawa took to his Instagram to make a statement addressing the loss debate.

"It's OK that Gable got caught," He said. Islam got clipped. Arman has lost. DJ has lost. GSP lost. DC lost. Jose Aldo lost. All went on to have absolutely legendary careers. "

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A post shared by Ibrahim Kawa (@abrahamkawa)

However, Makhachev lost his second bout in the UFC while he was a -150 betting underdog, and Tsarukyan lost two bouts in the UFC against elite-level opponents. "DJ" Demetrious Johnson lost four MMA fights, three of which were for titles. "GSP" Georges St. Pierre lost two, and both of them were title fights. "DC" Daniel Cormier has three losses, and all of them were in title fights. Finally, Jose Aldo only faced the best of the best in the cage.

 Again, comparing Steveson's loss while being a -2400 betting favourite to a relatively unknown fighter with these legendary, high-stakes fights has raised questions.

But that does not seem to be an immediate concern for Steveson's team, boosting the fighter's morales are.

 “We stand by our guy. He will be back real soon, and he will be great!" Abe Kawa concluded in his post.