Colby Covington doesn’t think too highly of Chael Sonnen’s ‘American Gangster’ persona.
Chaos’ is coming off yet another welterweight title loss, falling short in his third attempt at claiming UFC gold against reigning and defending world champion Leon Edwards. Following the devastating defeat, Covington appeared on the Patrick Bet-David podcast to discuss his return at UFC 296 and what may come next.
Along the way, the perennial contender threw some shade at a plethora of UFC talent, past and present. When likened to the UFC’s O.G. trash-talker, Chael Sonnen, Covington praised Sonnen’s tough-guy persona, sarcastically noting that it must have been tough growing up on the mean streets of Orgeon with parents who were only bringing in six figures.
“That’s our Oregon gangster,” Covington said with a laugh. “The West Linn gangster. You walk around the streets of West Linn, Oregon, people don’t realize how tough he had it. That guy’s a gangster. Some years, back 20 years ago, his parents only made $100,000 a year. Could you imagine having to live off $100,000 a year 20 years ago?”
Asked if he’s implying that Chael Sonnen had a comfortable upbringing, Covington doubled down on his sarcastic statement, saying with a smile:
“He had a tough upbringing. That’s tough. That’s poverish.”
Jump to the 1:38:00 minute mark of the below video to hear Covington speak about the UFC’s other three-time title challenger.
Colby Covington’s crack at the expense of ‘The American Gangster’ could be a response to Sonnen’s comments suggesting that we may never see ‘Chaos’ back inside the Octagon after failing to win the big one on three separate occasions.
“He’s had three world title fights, he was an interim champion, he never lost, he woke up one day, he wasn’t the interim champion,” Sonnen said following UFC 296. “He fought the reigning ‘BMF’ champion, dominated him, and never became ‘BMF’ champion. I think that there’s some real frustrations. I just don’t know if he wants to start over. That’s the hard truth. I don’t know that we see Colby Covington again.”
Covington has already called for a potential clash with top-10-ranked contender Stephen Thompson after ‘Wonderboy’ suffered a submission loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov at the promotion’s final pay-per-view event of the year. Whether or not he gets his wish or is willing to sign on the dotted line should the UFC make the offer remains to be seen.