Colby Covington is in the firing line right now after comments he made post-fight at UFC Vegas 11. The welterweight contender was fresh off stopping Tyron Woodley this past weekend when he got into a heated debate with welterweight champion Kamaru Usman on live TV.
The pair exchanged barbs but one particular comment from Covington has caused widespread outrage. ‘Chaos’ was bragging about receiving a post-fight call from President Donald Trump and simultaneously took what appeared to be a racist shot at Usman who is originally from Nigeria, he said.
“Who did you get a call from? Did you get a call from, freaking, your little tribe? Did they give you some smoke signals for you? “You’re a joke, Marty Fakenewsman!”
ESPN quickly pulled the clip from their social media platforms but that didn’t stop it from spreading like wildfire. Since UFC Vegas 11 several high profile, black fighters have spoken to MMA Fighting to condemn Covington and his overtly racist comments.
Israel Adesanya: “It just shows you the landscape of the media, what it is right now,” Adesanya said. “I made a joke about dropping [Yoel] Romero like the Twin Towers and everyone lost their mind, even if I said it was a joke and it was pretty funny, but people took it as I was being offensive and digging – but I was making a joke.
“This guy has directly insulted my culture, my brother and many other cultures and stuff and no one says anything. But it just shows you a mirror. Shows you a mirror to you guys. So yeah, I don’t really care. Kamaru Usman broke his jaw.”
Leon Edwards: “That’s what got me – the UFC has said nothing about it,” Edwards said. “ESPN has said nothing about it. Letting it flow like it’s a normal thing to f**king say and do and it’s not. Your tribe and smoke signals and blah, blah, blah, and he’s calling Woodley a terrorist because of Black Lives Matter. All these statements he’s making is racist. There’s no other way to go around it.”
Hakeem Dawodu: “I found them extremely rude, racist,” Dawodu said. “I’m kind of surprised he’s allowed to talk free like that. You know everyone’s allowed to talk freely, but I took offense to it. It’s crazy that it’s comments like that causing more and more of a divide amongst the people. So that’s how he gets down, but I’m not really with that, and I took offense to that for sure.
“That’s racist. They were almost worried about my walkout song, and he’s going to be saying stuff like that and that’s crazy, especially on such a big stage. I feel like that’s only going to promote more and more divide and cause more and more issues. He’s got the president calling him, backing him up on that. I don’t really appreciate it, and that’s how it is I guess.”
Sijara Eubanks: “Let’s be real first and foremost, it wasn’t unfortunate, it was flat out racist what Colby was saying,” Eubanks said. “It was racist, it was disgusting and quite frankly disappointing. But at the same time, the one thing I do appreciate is the UFC lets whoever say whatever. They have never muzzled us as fighters. If you want to talk, don’t want to talk. If you want to be political, you don’t want to be political. I have to appreciate that the company lets us say what we want.
Do you agree with Israel Adesanya and these other fighters? Is Colby Covington being let off the hook despite making racist comments?