“He was just a douchebag, and not a star but now he’s a douchebag/star. I enjoy watching him. I f**king think he’s a character.”
Love him or hate him, there’s no denying him.
That’s Colby Covington, the man who defeated BMF champ Jorge Masvidal at UFC 272 last weekend in Las Vegas.
One man who was particularly impressed with Covington’s performance was Sean O’Malley, who believes ‘Chaos’ deserves a spot in the UFC men’s pound-for-pound rankings despite being one of the biggest ‘douchebags’ in the sport.
“So impressive what Colby done,” O’Malley said of Covington’s lopsided unanimous decision victory over Masvidal (h/t BJPenn.com). “He just had to stick with it because no one f**king liked him, still not a ton of people like him but he’s more of a star now. He was just a douchebag, and not a star but now he’s a douchebag/star. I enjoy watching him. I f**king think he’s a character.”
“He’s got to be pound for pound one of the best. Even though he’s lost to Kamaru. He’s still gotta be up there. Put on a f**king dominant performance. Was actually a really f**king sweet fight.”
Dana White was reluctant to comment on Covington’s pound-for-pound status, but the UFC president acknowledged the MMA Masters product is a ‘tough dude’ who keeps winning.
“I don’t know, that’s a good question. We knew tonight, whoever lost, ‘What would be next?’ and ‘Where would they go?’ And I don’t know, sitting right here, right now, I don’t know. On either one of them, even Colby, who won,” White said at the UFC 272 post-fight press conference. “The thing is too is that after a while no matter how much you hate him (Colby), you’ve at least got to respect him. The guy keeps winning fights and he’s a tough dude.”
Covington isn’t currently in the UFC P4P rankings but he is ranked #1 in the UFC welterweight rankings, with many pundits considering him one of the greatest fighters in the promotion to have never won a championship.