If you thought rising UFC welterweight Colby Covington’s antics couldn’t get more over-the-top, you were wrong.
Three weeks after the No. 3 challenger called out the entirety of Sao Paulo, Brazil after defeating hometown fan favorite Demian Maia, Covington made headlines today when former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum hit him with a boomerang in Sydney, Australia for this weekend’s UFC Fight Night 121.
Rapidly becoming one of the more notorious trash talkers in the UFC, Covington took offense to Werdum’s attack, later revealing that he planned on pressing charges on “Vai Cavalo” in a message to MMA Fighting because the incident was caught on tape:
“He f*cked up,” Covington said. “There’s video and I speak the truth. He will be exposed soon, probably end up in Australia prison.”
Here’s the video of the incident posted by New Zealand featherweight Dan Hooker:
@FabricioWerdum attacks @ColbyCovMMA with a boomerang outside the hotel for UFC Sydney!
pic.twitter.com/MCadJmCaXu
— Dan Hangman Hooker (@danthehangman) November 16, 2017
There was also more violence supposedly involved, as Covington said Werdum punched him in the face during the altercation, which Werdum, who will meet Marcin Tybura in the UFC Sydney main event this weekend, said was false.
Covington not surprisingly denied this, stating that the truth would soon come forth due to the video of the incident:
“That’s a complete lie. He wrote a check his ass can’t cash. He’s on video so all his lies will be told soon.”
But even though it would seem to be Werdum’s fault from Covington’s point of view, he may have to fess up to at least part of the blame himself. The brash wrestler began filming towards the end of the melee on his phone, where he called Werdum an anti-gay slur and continued his stark anti-Brazil trash talk:
“F*ck Brazil. F*ck Fabricio Werdum, little bitch ass. F*ck Brazil. A bunch of filthy animals. And they wonder why they get talked to like that, because they’re a bunch of animals.”
Covington may be pressing charges on the assumption he was assaulted, which the above video does show. However, for those stating that his trash talk is not the grounds for physical assault, Werdum accused him of kicking him in the leg first, so it may come down to hearsay and what evidence the video shows.
The UFC quickly released a brief statement stating they were looking into the matter to find out if the UFC Athlete Conduct Policy had been violated:
“UFC was made aware of the altercation between Fabricio Werdum and Colby Covington at the organization’s host hotel in Sydney, Australia,” the statement read. “The organization will conduct a full investigation to determine if the Athlete Conduct Policy was violated before taking any further action on this matter.”
Overall, it’s simply not a good look for either Covington or Werdum.
The rising welterweight continues to make inflammatory statements about the Brazilian people based solely on their heritage, and while it may land him a big fight and a lucrative position as one of the UFC’s most hated heels, it’s also crossing the line of acceptable trash talk and making fighters look barbaric, especially when he used another anti-gay slur.
As for Werdum, it could be even worse, as the veteran was seen throwing several homophobic slurs of his own at Tony Ferguson during their UFC 216 luncheon incident, for which Werdum apologized and was supposedly headed to do outreach in the LGBTQ community. He’s since said he received no punishment, however, and these two incidents combined with Conor McGregor’s use of the same word backstage at October 21’s UFC Gdansk make the UFC and MMA look bad as a whole.
Are these run-ins helping foster interest in the sport, or are they simply making fighters look like ignorant brutes who can’t remain professional?
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