According to Colby Covington, his casino altercation between Kamaru Usman and manager Ali Abdelaziz went a little overboard.
From controversial stoppages to titles changing hands, UFC 235 was quite an eventful night. The action actually spilled over to the next day at the Palms Casino when Colby Covington, Kamaru Usman, and manager Ali Abdelaziz got into an altercation, all of which was caught on video.
But there are a few other sides to the story that wasn’t told, at least according to Covington, who relayed what happened from his perspective on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on Monday.
“I was staying over at the dump, the Palms and I’m waiting in the buffet line. I’m just trying to get some crab legs. Can’t the man get some crab legs?” Covington said (transcript via MMAjunkie). “Can the man, the champ, get some crab legs in peace? All of a sudden low-energy Marty comes, that terrorist rat Ali comes and some other Sasquatch and they start pushing and swinging and start putting innocent kids’ lives in danger and a pregnant lady.
“There’s a pregnant lady, and she’s screaming, ‘I’m pregnant, stop this!’ Ali is still pushing, trying to make a scene. Usman is still trying to scream at me, ‘I’m going to get you!’ And his Sasquatch is trying to throw punches at my friend and trying to punch me. It’s a complete joke. I can’t believe that they allow that in Vegas and just a bunch of filthy animals.”
“Ali tried to swing at me, but I’ve got cat-like reflexes, so obviously he’s not going to hit me. He’s slow as a f—ing turtle.”
Covington also claims he had been permanently banned from the Palms because of the incident.
“They banned me from the Palms property for doing absolutely nothing,” he said. “Just sitting there saying, ‘Hey man, we’re professionals. I’m going to beat your ass in the cage man.’ I’m not going to press charges because the real f—ing punishment for you is that beating you’re going to get when we’re in that octagon. I don’t want your ass deported back to Nigeria.”
“Chaos” seemed to have a bigger beef with Abdelaziz, whom he claims also threatened his life.
“That terrorist rat should get deported back to whatever country he snitched on,” Covington said of Abdelaziz. “He shouldn’t even be allowed in this country for all the sh-t he does. He’s over there trying to take swings at professional fighters.
“You know what else he told me? He told me he was going to track me down and shoot me and kill me. He said that to me. I swear to God on my life. I have witnesses that heard him say that.”
Covington finally got what he’d been clamoring for after Saturday night, when the UFC confirmed he would be the first man to challenge newly-crowned welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. Their fight date has yet to be announced.