Colby Covington Reacts To Controversial Exchange With Michael Bisping

As expected, Colby Colby Covington had some choice words aimed at Michael Bisping:

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In a little over a week since June 9’s UFC 225 from Chicago, one of the most hotly-debated topics to arise was newly-crowned interim champion Colby Covington’s on-air back-and-forth with former middleweight champ Michael Bisping.

The hotly-discussed scene where Bisping was put off by Covington’s over-the-top style was one of the most dramatic moments of a card that stacked on paper but supposedly brought little heat at the box office. Indeed Bisping drew a fair amount of criticism from several in the MMA universe, namely his FOX Sports 1 co-worker Jon Anik.

And it was also hardly a surprise to hear someone snap at Covington after he’s called out the majority of anyone involved in mixed martial arts during his run to the placeholder title over the last nine months. With Covington ironically taking over as MMA’s most brazen trash talker after Bisping occupied a top spot on that list for many years before retiring, he won’t stop building his brand heading into his upcoming title unification fight with Tyron Woodley.

On a recent episode of The MMA Hour, “Chaos” effused the predictable insult he used against ‘The Count’ during their original rivalry, making fun of his eye and mentioning Dan Henderson’s historic knockout of the brash British legend:

“He’s an unprofessional little one-eyed twerp,” Covington said. “Every time the UFC brings me out, I’m always professional, I’m always on time. I make weight. There’s never any issues with Colby “Chaos” Covington. I always do the right things. What he did on Saturday night was a complete joke. That was my time and my moment and he was trying to steal my spotlight. He knew the light was so bright — and usually he can’t see out of that one eye. But my spotlight was so bright, he just couldn’t help but try and jump in.

“It’s crazy, he forgot what happened from American forefather Dan Henderson. You would think he got humbled from the last time he messed around with the red, white and blue. I’ll come across the pond and break that little, one-eyed nerd’s face.”

More of the same from Covington, whose promotion may not be working as much as you may think with his social media following not yet possessing equal statistics to the sheer number of headlines he’s emblazoned as of late.

He won’t stop doing what got him here, however. Covington claimed he wasn’t like any other fighter, and wouldn’t complain like his budding archnemesis Woodley, who claims he’s subject to racism but is actually disliked because his fights are boring:

“I’m not like any other fighter,” Covington said. “I don’t ever complain, man. I just take things the way they are. I’m not like TyQuil Woodley where he complains about the fans, like ‘Oh, they’re racist, because they don’t like me. Oh, they’re racist, they don’t want to watch me fight.’ No, you’re just boring, no one wants to watch the human form of NyQuil.”

Back to “The Count,” Covington closed this verbal battle with the British vet by suggesting he wouldn’t be moving along with the promotion when they shift to ESPN:

“You want to take shots at me from the Fox Sports desk, there’s a reason that they’re moving over to ESPN,” Covington said. … “He ain’t going over there.”

Thre’s not yet a date for Covington’s anticipated grudge match with “The Chosen One” yet, but it’s already become personal and should only get more controversial as “Chaos” trashes the champ every time he opens his mouth.

But Woodley isn’t the only target, and Covington’s list of victims is covering more and more territory with each passing day. Is it growing old for you, or do you still care enough to pay to hopefully see him lose?

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Tyron Woodley Claims Colby Covington’s Sister ‘Tried To Slide Into His DMs’

Tyron Woodley is already making it personal with Colby Covington:

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One week after Colby Covington won the interim welterweight title with a one-sided unanimous decision over Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 225, his budding rivalry with champion Tyron Woodley is becoming personal.

Covington’s sister Candace recently sent a warning message to Woodley following “Chaos’” impressive win, declaring that they were “coming” for the champ in a perceived title unification bout that will happen once “The Chosen One” finally returns from shoulder surgery after his last bout against Demian Maia in 2017.

Woodley apparently isn’t taking the threat lying down, however, posting on social media that Covington’s sister supposedly tried to ‘slide into his DMs but was rebuffed,’ something he claimed to have proof of:

Woodley vs. Covington doesn’t have an official date yet but should be one of the most trash talk-filled lead-ups of 2018 when it does become official.

The two top-ranked fighters have a lengthy history dting back to their time spent training at American Top Team (ATT), sessions which both fighters predictably offer significantly different recounts of.

‘The Chosen One’ claims he wants to end Covington’s career and get banned from the UFC, quite the over-the-top statement from a champion who talks a decent amount of trash but almost always falls short of making it personal with his opponents.

As you can see, this rivalry is quite different.

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Chris Weidman & Kelvin Gastelum Go Off In Heated Twitter Beef

Tensions in the UFC middleweight division continue to rise.

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Chris Weidman and Kelvin Gastelum are clearly the frontrunners for a shot at Robert Whittaker’s middleweight title, but who will get the opportunity first?

Weidman and Gastelum met inside the Octagon last July, where ‘The All American’ took a third-round submission win. It was the former 185-pound champ’s first victory in four fights. After his victory over Gastelum, however, Weidman was sidelined with a broken thumb and is still recovering from a significant procedure.

In the meantime, Gastelum has been staying busy with back-to-back wins over jiu-jitsu icon Ronaldo Jacare Souza and former middleweight champion Michael Bisping. With Gastelum coming off two straight wins he believes he’s rightfully next in line for the UFC middleweight crown.

With Weidman getting ready to return soon, however, he feels that since he beat Gastelum he should get the first nod at the title. Gastelum recently took to Twitter to fire a shot at Weidman, saying he believes it’s only right he challenges Whittaker first this Fall:

Weidman soon responded by reminding Gastelum what happened last time they met inside the Octagon:

The pair might just have to fight it out one more time to determine who will fight Whittaker next. Whittaker defeated Yoel Romero in the main event of UFC 225 last weekend (Sat. June 9, 2018) in a non-title fight after the Cuban missed weight.

He suffered a broken hand during the fight and will likely need a significant amount of time for recovery before getting back inside the Octagon. That means there’s more than enough time for Gastelum and Weidman to rematch and solidify who truly deserves to fight for UFC gold next.

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UFC Strongly Denies UFC 225 Tanked At Box Office

The UFC denied that UFC 225 tanked at the box office – well, kind of:

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The mixed martial arts world got some at least somewhat surprising news earlier this week when a report surfaced from the LA Times that last weekend’s UFC 225 pay-per-view from Chicago tanked massively at the box office.

However, the UFC claims that the numbers, which said the stacked PPV only drew less than 150,000 buys, are simply false.

In a response to the initial report from the LA Times’ Lance Pugmire, UFC attorney Hunter Campbell said that the numbers reported were not true and gave a vague estimate of just how many buys they were off but would not state an actual number the PPV actually brought in:

“UFC attorney Hunter Campbell said listing 150,000 as the number of purchases for Saturday’s event was a “material misrepresentation” of the actual buys and short by “something in excess of six figures,” but declined to provide an actual figure.”

Kamil Krzaczynski for USA TODAY Sports

The event was understandably touted as the most stacked UFC pay-per-view of 2018 thus far with two title fights (although one was ultimately a non-title affair).

The headliner boasted a classic middleweight bout between champion Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero, who was unable to win the title after he missed weight by 0.2 pounds, and also the most heated MMA rivalry of the year when Colby Covington defeated former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos for the interim welterweight strap in the co-headliner.

The rest of the card was also littered with high-level bouts from top to bottom, and CM Punk, who supposedly brought in pay-per-view buys from casual fans and pro-wrestling fans, also lost his second (and most likely last) UFC fight to Mike Jackson on the main card.

That wasn’t apparently enough to save UFC 225 from a dismal buyrate, however, no matter how the UFC chose to spin their response to the reports of its low numbers. Even if Campbell’s insistence is one hundred percent true, UFC 225 still only brought in 250,000-300,000 buys, a terrible number considering the jam-packed lineup of world-class MMA talent.

Perhaps that’s just the new norm in today’s era of McGregor and Rousey-free UFC pay-per-views. It’s probably not what Endeavor (formerly WME-IMG) was thinking of when they bought the UFC for a then-record $4.2 billion in July 2016, and they are probably hoping they can somehow return to the million-plus buys that seemed to come easily that year.

Negotiations and assault charges aside, it’s looking like the UFC needs to pay Conor McGregor what he wants and do it fast – no matter if the poor estimates for UFC 225 prove to be false in this sense.

Or is the UFC’s heyday on pay-per-view simply coming to an end with the oversaturation of events making each one less special? Could be a combination of both.

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UFC Rankings Update: A Pair Of New Faces At No. 2 Spots

This week’s new UFC rankings are in and some big shake-ups have occurred thanks to last week’s (Sat. June 9, 2018) fights at the UFC 225 pay-per-view (PPV) event from Chicago. Heavyweight Curtis Blaydes has shot up to the No. 2 spot thanks …

This week’s new UFC rankings are in and some big shake-ups have occurred thanks to last week’s (Sat. June 9, 2018) fights at the UFC 225 pay-per-view (PPV) event from Chicago. Heavyweight Curtis Blaydes has shot up to the No. 2 spot thanks to his third round finishing of former UFC heavyweight title challenger Alistair […]

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CM Punk’s Coach Advises Him To Focus More On Jiu-Jitsu Competition

CM Punk has now suffered the second consecutive loss of his mixed martial arts (MMA) career. The former WWE Champion made his MMA debut two years ago when he suffered a first round submission loss to Mickey Gall in Cleveland. This past weekend (Sat. Ju…

CM Punk has now suffered the second consecutive loss of his mixed martial arts (MMA) career. The former WWE Champion made his MMA debut two years ago when he suffered a first round submission loss to Mickey Gall in Cleveland. This past weekend (Sat. June 9, 2018) he made his Octagon return against Mike Jackson […]

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