FIGHTER PROFILE: COLBY ‘CHAOS’ COVINGTON

Colby Covington has had an interesting arc, and like many of the UFC’s biggest stars he is super polarizing. Some think The MAGA hat wearing Covington is brash and obnoxious. Others find Covington to be super entertaining in a pro wrestling type of way. But it’s clear when Covington fights it’s pure electricity. Love him or hate him Covington puts on a show and will continue to sell PPV’s and put butts in seats with his schtick. 

Covington was born on February 22, 1988 in Clovis, California. Covington grew up in California until the age of eight when his Noelle and Brad Covington moved their family to the state of Oregon. Covington attended Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon. Covington took up wrestling when he entered High School.  Covington excelled at wrestling during his senior year he won the 171 pound state championship.

Covington decided to go to college and that he would wrestle. He decided to go to Arizona State University. Unfortunately Covington did not have the grades to attend the school so Covington ended up going to Iowa Central Community College. Covingtons roommate coincidentally was future UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Jon Jones. In his freshman year of college Covington had an amazing 34–0 record winning the 165 lb National Junior College Wrestling title.

Covington would then end up transferring to the University of Iowa. Unfortunately Covington found himself in trouble with the law. This trouble ended up with Covington getting suspended from the team and led to him getting limited action when he did return to the Wrestling team. This led Covington to transfer to Oregon State University. Covington would become a Pac-10 Conference champion at 174-pounds and receive All-American honors while at Oregon State. Covington graduated with a degree in Sociology in 2011 an interesting major choice for the Trump loving Future MMA star.

Covington would make his MMA debut at Midtown Throwdown 3 where he faced Chris Ensley in February of 2012. He would win by TKO (Submission to Knee injury) this fight showed that covington had what it took to fight in MMA. Covington would win his next four fights. This would lead Covington to The UFC. Covington would make his UFC debut against  Wang Anying and would win via TKO (submission to punches.)

Covington would fight seven more times for the organization, only losing once. This led to a decision for the organization who was about to cut covington due to the fact that he was not a fan favorite and even though he had a great record with the organization they didn’t feel he was a sellable brand. This is when Covington went back to the drawing board and following a victory against Demian Maia Covington took to the mic and this new Trump loving heel character was born. The UFC saw dollar signs and  put covington up against Rafael dos Anjos for the Welterweight Interim Championship. Covington won the belt and presented it to President Donald Trump making Covington the only UFC fighter to ever visit the White House and meet with a sitting President.

Unfortunately Covington was stripped of his belt. Covington fought again for the WElterweight title against Kamaru Usman at UFC 245. Covington lost that fight and broke his jaw in the process. He returned to the UFC Octagon in September of 2020 with a victory over former champion Tyron Woodley. Covington is set to face Usman in a rematch of their fight at UFC 268 on Saturday November 6th for The UFC Welterweight Championship. It should be an awesome fight.