Colby Covington isn’t the first person to have a terrible day at the office and consider a career change.
UFC 296 went poorly for “Chaos.” His third and likely final title shot came and went with a whimper, as an unusually hesitant Covington sat at the edge of sharp-shooting champion Leon Edwards’ range for most of 25 minutes. Covington’s infamous cardio and elite wrestling were nowhere to be found, though his usual attitude problem did make itself known in the post-fight interviews. When an initially pro “Chaos” crowd ended the evening viciously booing him, that’s a bad sign.
Since then, Covington has continued to claim injury, bias, and every other possible explanation for an awful performance (while still somehow claiming that he won). His next step is unclear, as some are speculating retirement while names like Stephen Thompson and Shavkat Rakhmonov are also being floated as possibilities.
If indeed Covington does call it quits now or in the next few years, “Chaos” just revealed a big hint towards his future on the PBD Podcast. The longtime Donald Trump super fan is interested in crossing into the political world, and it doesn’t take a genius to guess which side of the aisle he intends to stand.
The end goal? Florida governor!
“I feel like when you start putting that one foot out and start thinking about what’s next, you should probably retire. You’re not still completely invested in fighting,” Covington explained about his future (via Josh Evanoff). “So, I still know I’m one of the best fighters in the world. I just went five rounds with the supposed champion who was supposed to completely decimate me. It was a very competitive fight, could’ve gone either way. But, I know I’m so much more than a fighter though.”
He continued, “…I’m smarter than that. I can use my mind, and I have the intellect to be able to navigate the waters and to get to where I want to go in life. I haven’t thought about it, but I do want to get into politics one day because I want to fight for what I believe in. Maybe get into Congress, Senate, something like that. May be be the Governor of Florida, that’s my ultimate dream is to be Governor of this state. I do [want to be it].”
If Covington goes into politics, does that make Jorge Masvidal an activist?
At any rate, Covington is far from the first UFC veteran to make this transition. The recently retired Alistair Overeem began working to move into Dutch politics earlier this year, and Conor McGregor is threatening a presidency run! Of course, none can compare to Tito Ortiz, whose run as Huntington Beach City Councilman was as memorable as it was short.