Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
Colby Covington has responded to the backlash following his UFC Vegas 11 finish of Tyron Woodley this past Saturday.
The former UFC interim welterweight champion has been under scrutiny after comments he made in his post-fight interview and press conference. On Friday, Covington took to Instagram to issue a brief statement.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by colbycovington (@colbycovmma) on Sep 25, 2020 at 10:16am PDT
“Nice try, woke mob but you can’t cancel Colby Covington [Incorporated],” he stated. “I speak for the silent majority and I’ll never back down.”
Following his dominant win over Woodley, Covington appeared on the post-fight show and engaged in a war of words with reigning welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. During the segment, Covington made reference to Usman’s native country of Nigeria after accepting a call from President Donald Trump earlier during the same interview.
“Who did you get a call from?” Covington asked. “Did you get a call from freaking your little tribe? Did they give you some smoke signals for you? You’re a joke, Marty Fakenewsman!”
When speaking with the media backstage at the UFC APEX, Covington was then asked about a derogatory post he made on social media where he blasted Woodley for wearing a Black Lives Matter t-shirt and responding to every question during his media day with reporters with some variation of ‘Black Lives Matter’ in his answers.
“The Black Lives Matter is a complete sham – it’s a joke,” Covington said. “They’re taking these people that are complete terrorists. They’re taking these people that that are criminals.
“These aren’t people that are hardworking Americans, blue-collar Americans. These are bad people. They’re criminals.”
Several fighters on the roster—including middleweight champion Israel Adesanya—had a response to Covington’s comments. UFC president Dana White has addressed the situation on multiple occasions, including at the UFC 253 press conference where he believed Covington hasn’t crossed the line.
“These guys all have their own causes, things, they’re own beliefs,” he said. “We don’t muzzle anybody here. We let everybody speak their mind.
“I don’t know what he said that was racist. I don’t know if I heard anything racist that he said.”
Covington is hoping to face Usman in a rematch from their classic battle at UFC 245 that saw the current champion earn a fifth-round finish, or former roommate and training partner Jorge Masvidal. Usman is tentatively scheduled to defend his title against Gilbert Burns at UFC 256 on Dec. 12, while a rematch with Nate Diaz is being discussed for Masvidal.