Colby Covington has long had quarrels with several Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) stars ranging from his old college roommate, Jon Jones, Jorge Masvidal, Kamaru Usman, and several others during his time with the promotion.
But even people that Covington hasn’t directly beefed with are speaking out against him, including Dan Hooker, who says UFC officials go out of their way to protect the mouthy Welterweight when he is in Las Vegas, Nevada to prevent any “Chaos.”
“He’s a f*cking idiot,” Hooker told Fox Sports Australia. (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “They f*cking hide him. Like, the UFC hide the sh*t out of him. They need to. They would slap the sh*t out of him. He can’t even train at the PI, so they like chuck him across the road.”
Covington has been involved in multiple out-of-the-cage altercations, more recently getting sucker-punched by Jorge Masvidal outside of a restaurant in Miami. That attack resulted in several injuries to Covington which have delayed his return to action.
Perhaps that’s why, if true, the promotion does its best to keep him out of situations that will lead to further conflict and unnecessary injury.
“He comes in at night in the Apex and goes in the back door to the Apex. He’s a little rat, bro. That’s p*ssy sh*t. He doesn’t stay in the host hotel. He actually goes out of his way to just avoid people. It’s the weirdest thing.”
It’s not that weird because while Covington was a part of American Top Team (ATT) the coaches would have to make sure he trained at different hours or in a separate part of the gym in order to avoid confrontations with Masvidal and Dustin Poirier. Covington eventually left the famed gym and now trains at MMA Masters.
The former interim Welterweight champion of the world — who is currently ranked No. 2 — still has no concrete plans for a return, but despite contradicting reports the wrestling expert is healthy enough to come back sooner, rather than later.
And he will have several people chomping at the bit to welcome him back, though we suggest this man be the one to do it.