Colby Covington is once again a topic of conversation within the UFC. Last weekend, Covington scored a TKO victory over Tyron Woodley. After the fight, Covington ruffled feathers with his less than respectful comments towards LeBron James, Woodley and UFC Champion Kamaru Usman.
First, he described Woodley as "a communist, a Marxist, [someone] standing up for lifelong criminals." Then, he called James a "woke, spineless coward." He ended his tear by going back and forth with Usman. Much of Covington's aggression was fueled from his support of President Donald Trump and opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Who did you get a call from? Did you get a call from, freaking, your little tribe? Did they give you some smoke signals for you," Covington said to the Nigerian champion during their contentious exchange.
“You’re a joke, Marty Fakenewsman!”
Just a week after last week's card, the UFC has turned its attention toward UFC 253 in Abu Dhabi. Leading up to this weekend's event, a number of Black fighters were asked directly about Covington's comments. Many described Covington's statements as both offensive and abhorrent.
"This guy has directly insulted my culture, my brother and many other cultures, and no one says anything, but it just shows you a mirror. Shows you a mirror to you guys. So, yeah. I don't really care. Kamaru Usman broke his jaw [when they fought in 2019], so I don't really care," undefeated UFC middleweight Israel Adesanya said when asked about Covington's comments.
"Let's be real, first and foremost. It wasn't 'unfortunate.' It was flat-out racist. It was racist. It was disgusting. It was quite frankly disappointing," UFC bantamweight Sijara Eubanks added.
Despite backlash from ESPN's Max Kellerman, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and many more, the UFC has not punished Covington for his comments. In fact, UFC President Dana White has defended Covington's comments.
"We don't muzzle anybody here," he said.
"I don't know if I heard anything racist that he said."
UFC 253 will take place this Saturday at 10 p.m. with Adesanya defending his middleweight title. Covington's next bout has not yet been scheduled.
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