Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Nolan King, The Blue Corner

UFC on ESPN 5 poster released: Robbie Lawler vs. Colby Covington dubbed ‘teammates turned rivals’

Colby Covington and Robbie Lawler were once teammates. Now scheduled to face off against one another, they’re rivals.

Former UFC welterweight champ Lawler (28-13 MMA, 13-7 UFC) and former interim champ Covington (14-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) will square off Aug. 3 in the UFC on ESPN 5 main event at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. The card airs on ESPN.

While Covington has accused Lawler of turning his back on American Top Team, the gym’s owner, Dan Lambert, has made it clear there’s no beef on his end. In a recent interview, Lawler also shrugged off Covington’s trash talk.

Lawler, 37, will look to rebound from back-to-back losses to Ben Askren and Rafael Dos Anjos. Covington, 31, hopes to extend his winning streak to seven.

Also on the card, light heavyweights will collide when Volkan Oezdemir (15-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC) and Ilir Latifi (14-6 MMA, 7-4 UFC) meet in the co-main event. The pair initially was supposed to meet at UFC on ESPN+ 11, but a Latifi neck injury caused the bout to be scrapped just days before the event.

Additionally, longtime UFC lightweights Jim Miller (30-13 MMA, 19-12 UFC) and Clay Guida (35-18 MMA, 15-12 UFC) will fight for the first time.

The latest UFC on ESPN 5 lineup includes:

  • Colby Covington vs. Robbie Lawler
  • Volkan Oezdemir vs. Ilir Latifi
  • Jim Miller vs. Clay Guida
  • Joaquim Silva vs. Nasrat Haqparast
  • Mickey Gall vs. Salim Touahri
  • Jordan Espinosa vs. Matt Schnell
  • Lauren Murphy vs. Mara Romero Borella
  • Antonina Shevchenko vs. Lucie Pudilova
  • Trevin Giles vs. Gerald Meerschaert
  • Darko Stosic vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu
  • Ramazan Emeev vs. Claudio Silva
  • Scott Holtzman vs. Dong Hyun Ma

For more on UFC on ESPN 5, check out the UFC Schedule.

The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.