The welterweight top contender sounds like he may sue the UFC over the loss of a title shot opportunity.
Colby Covington’s relationship with the UFC has deteriorated in a hurry. The man who once took home an interim title just two months before champion Tyron Woodley was set to return to action has seen his fortunes change dramatically — from what appeared to be a guaranteed title shot, to having to ‘earn the spot to get back,’ as Dana White himself recently put it. All without stepping foot inside the Octagon.
He’s been stripped of his interim title and, after passing on a proposed September bout against Woodley – where the ‘Chosen One’ ended up defeating Darren Till – will once again find himself watching a welterweight title fight from the sidelines. This time it’s fellow collegiate wrestling standout Kamaru Usman getting the chance to earn UFC gold. And the whole debacle has ‘Chaos’ thinking that legal action may be in order.
“We may have to go to court, and this may be a lawsuit, because let’s be honest: If [Tom] Brady wins the AFC championship and all of a sudden Roger Goodell says, ‘You’re not going to the Super Bowl because we don’t like you’ – no, that’s not how it works,” Covington said in a recent interview with MMAjunkie. “This is business and just because you don’t like someone, that’s not a big deal. This is business and they’re gonna have to get over the fact that they don’t like me and they’re gonna have to play ball and do business with me.”
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“[Other fights] are possibilities but they want me to go backwards and fight for a fifth of the paycheck they promised me,” Covington added. “That ain’t happening. I’m not fighting for a fifth of the paycheck that I was promised and that I’m owed and guaranteed and earned. They’re not gonna get anything less out of me. I’ll sit on the shelf all day. We’ll go to court. I’ll make it a living hell for the UFC. I don’t give a sh*t. They’re already trying to make my life a living hell. The business they’re trying to do right now is ridiculous. It doesn’t make sense.”
Covington hasn’t fought since June of 2018, when he defeated Rafael dos Anjos to win the interim welterweight belt. In response to Covington’s recent outbursts, Dana White explained the decision to give the title shot to the ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“When opportunity is there, answer the door, take it,” White chided. “If you don’t, it’s going to take you longer to get back to that belt. I liked the fight that Usman had. Usman was ready to fight anybody and he’s getting the shot.”
If Covington did pursue legal action against the world’s largest mixed martial arts organization, he would hardly be the first. Aside from the ongoing anti-trust suit against the promotion, Mark Hunt, BJ Penn, Randy Couture, and Ken Shamrock have all made well publicized attempts to take on the UFC in court. It’s yet to be an avenue that leads to great success.
In the meantime, Tyron Woodley is set to fight this March in the co-main event of UFC 235. There his bout against Usman will play second fiddle to the light heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Anthony Smith.