Short answer = no. Long answer: Let's compare Covington to Dos Anjos:
Covington has 18 thousand twitter followers. Rafael Dos Anjos has 168 thousand. Yes, Dos Anjos has nearly 10 times as many followers. Yes, there's a lot of Brazilians in that numbers - but exactly - he is known in two markets compared to a guy nobody seems to know.
I noticed this disconnect with Demian Maia - Maia has 500k twitter followers and Wonderboy has 98k. There was never any actual evidence that Maia wasn't as big a draw as anyone else in the WW division, and in fact evidence exists suggesting the opposite, but people kept repeating that he wasn't a draw and that somehow guys like Wonderboy were regardless.
Colby Covington has only ever APPEARED on two main cards - one of which was a shitty Brazlian Fight Night card and the other a shitty Singapore fight night - he has never headlined a card, nor has he even had the top prelim spot. His fights have also been awful.
Dos Anjos is a former champion, is an exciting fighter with multiple HL reel finishes, and is a known commodity in MMA's two largest markets. He has headlined big Fox 2 times and a couple of fight nights, including a title fight leading into UFC 200, headlined a PPV that did a respectable 310k buys despite having a terrible undercard and, importantly, had a program with Conor McGregor to get his name out there. That's not to say he is some magical draw - he's not - but he's a much bigger draw than Covington going on any sensible analysis.
People seem to confuse the MMA shitrags filling up their pages with 'talkers' like Covington because they need clicks from hardcore MMA fans, with anyone actually knowing who the fuck they are. I see this a lot when people talk money fights. The only 'money' fights in or around the sport are Conor, GSP, Jon Jones, Diaz (and we haven't seen what he can draw alone) and we'll see how Cyborg draws vs Holm.
Covington has 18 thousand twitter followers. Rafael Dos Anjos has 168 thousand. Yes, Dos Anjos has nearly 10 times as many followers. Yes, there's a lot of Brazilians in that numbers - but exactly - he is known in two markets compared to a guy nobody seems to know.
I noticed this disconnect with Demian Maia - Maia has 500k twitter followers and Wonderboy has 98k. There was never any actual evidence that Maia wasn't as big a draw as anyone else in the WW division, and in fact evidence exists suggesting the opposite, but people kept repeating that he wasn't a draw and that somehow guys like Wonderboy were regardless.
Colby Covington has only ever APPEARED on two main cards - one of which was a shitty Brazlian Fight Night card and the other a shitty Singapore fight night - he has never headlined a card, nor has he even had the top prelim spot. His fights have also been awful.
Dos Anjos is a former champion, is an exciting fighter with multiple HL reel finishes, and is a known commodity in MMA's two largest markets. He has headlined big Fox 2 times and a couple of fight nights, including a title fight leading into UFC 200, headlined a PPV that did a respectable 310k buys despite having a terrible undercard and, importantly, had a program with Conor McGregor to get his name out there. That's not to say he is some magical draw - he's not - but he's a much bigger draw than Covington going on any sensible analysis.
People seem to confuse the MMA shitrags filling up their pages with 'talkers' like Covington because they need clicks from hardcore MMA fans, with anyone actually knowing who the fuck they are. I see this a lot when people talk money fights. The only 'money' fights in or around the sport are Conor, GSP, Jon Jones, Diaz (and we haven't seen what he can draw alone) and we'll see how Cyborg draws vs Holm.