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Colby Covington's latest round of race-baiting draws ire of UFC fighters, Reebok

Jason OwensYahoo SportsSep 23, 2020, 8:43 PM
Colby Covington has incited backlash from fellow UFC fighters and sponsors for his latest foray into race-baiting.

The top-ranked UFC welterweight contender defeated Tyron Woodley via TKO at UFC Vegas 11 on Saturday. Woodley used his fight-week platform advocating for Black Lives Matter. After defeating Woodley, Covington pounced on the opportunity to incite hate around the movement.

Covington: BLM are ‘terrorists’
“He’s standing up for lifelong criminals, Covington said of Woodley. “The Black Lives Matter is a complete sham. It’s a joke. They’re taking these people that are complete terrorists. They’re taking these people that that are criminals.”

Covington closed his commentary with a personal attack of Woodley, leaning on common political rhetoric used to discredit the Black Lives Matter movement.

“He’s a communist,” Covington said. “He’s a Marxist. He stands for criminals. He hates America, and that’s why he got broke tonight.”

Covington also goaded Nigerian welterweight champion Kamaru Usman with references to his "little tribe" and "smoke signals," according to ESPN.

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 02: Colby Covington attends the UFC 235 event at T-Mobile Arena on March 2, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC)
LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 02: Colby Covington attends the UFC 235 event at T-Mobile Arena on March 2, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC)
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‘Flat-out racist’
Fellow UFC fighters heard Covington’s rhetoric and spoke out on Wednesday during a media session promoting UFC 253. They also levied criticism toward media for how Covington’s remarks have been framed.

“Let's be real, first and foremost,” bantamweight Sijara Eubanks said, per ESPN. “It wasn't ‘unfortunate.’ It was flat-out racist. It was racist. It was disgusting. It was quite frankly disappointing.”

Eubanks went on to compare Covington to Mike Perry, a UFC fighter who has repeatedly used the N-word in public.

“But to be fair, I think guys that talk like Mike Perry and Colby Covington, I think a lot of the things they say are racist and disgusting and should be reported as such, instead of ‘unfortunate’ or ‘controversial,’” Eubanks continued. “It's racist.”

Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is headlining Saturday’s card. He also called out Covington and the public portrayal of his comments while speaking to the news media.

“This guy has directly insulted my culture, my brother and many other cultures, and no one says anything,” Adesanya said. “But it just shows you a mirror. Shows you a mirror to you guys.”

Reebok disavows Covington comments
UFC sponsors have responded by distancing themselves from Covington to varying degrees in statements released to Bloody Elbow. Reebok called Covington out by name in a direct rebuke to his comments.

“Reebok is the uniform provider for the UFC, however we do not sponsor Colby Covington. We do not agree with the sentiments he expressed, and stand firm in our belief that Black lives matter. We stand with athletes and communities who are fighting for change.”

Monster Energy declined to acknowledge Covington while pointing to a generic stance on equality.

“Monster Energy will not respond on the comments of a Non-Sponsored Athlete. We stand by the statements on our website regarding Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion.”

DoorDash also responded to Bloody Elbow with a generic statement on equality.

“DoorDash stands with our employees and community members to fight injustice, inequality and discrimination, and we remain committed to using our voice and platform to empower local economies to support equality.”

Same old schtick from Covington
Covington’s remarks on Saturday are nothing new. He’s regularly leaned into this persona as he’s promoted his fights. During a time of intense social division in the United States, Covington has aligned himself with President Donald Trump and the incendiary rhetoric Trump uses on the campaign trail. Covington is rarely seen in public without his “MAGA” hat.

The fight game has long trafficked in race baiting to sell events, and Covington has enthusiastically embraced the heel role. He also appears to have genuine affinity for Trump, who invited him for a White House visit in 2018.

UFC president Dana White has not commented on Covington’s remarks. UFC generally allows its fighters a wide berth to say what they want. White is also an avid Trump supporter, having spoken on his behalf multiple times on the campaign trail.

his latest foray into race-baiting

None of his comments I’ve read were race baiting, including everything quoted in the article. Actually the opposite. He has criticized BLM, which is an organization that counts race baiting as part of its core values.

Public image
Covington is an outspoken supporter of the Republican Party and President Donald Trump. After winning the Interim UFC Welterweight Championship, he stated he wanted to visit Trump at the White House to present him with the title,[52] which he did on August 2, 2018.[53]

He has described himself as the "super villain" of the UFC and will often try to upset people with brazen trash talking. Following his bout with Demian Maia in 2017, he called Brazil a "dump" and referred to the Brazilian crowd as "filthy animals" in the post-fight interview.[54] In an interview with Candace Owens, Covington said that his "act" was a response to the UFC threatening to cut him before the Maia fight and stated the "Filthy Animals" speech "saved his career."[55] Covington further embraced his villain status before his 2019 main event encounter with Robbie Lawler at UFC on ESPN 5. He used the WWE entrance theme of professional wrestler Kurt Angle—which is regularly punctuated with crowd chants of "You suck!"—as his entrance music; Angle had given Covington permission to use the theme. With two of Trump's sons, Donald Jr. and Eric cageside for the fight,[56] the crowd performed the "You suck!" chants during Covington's entrance.[57]

Covington continued his trash-talking in the lead up to the Kamaru Usman fight at UFC 245. During a press conference, he said that Usman gave Glenn Robinson, Usman's long-time coach who died in 2018, "a heart attack from all those years you were ducking me," and that Robinson would be "watching from hell on Dec. 14."[58] After losing to Usman at UFC 245, Covington criticized the referee of the bout, Marc Goddard. He called Goddard and his stoppage "fake", and said Goddard had unfairly given Usman breaks during the fight due to incorrect refereeing calls.[59] Covington said that Goddard is anti-Brexit and anti-Trump, and speculated that Goddard's political views influenced his refereeing decisions.[60]

The only reason they're going after him is because he wears a MAGA hat.

I could not find ANYTHING racist in anything he said.

if you ask me, he nailed it.

And he beat Woodley last Saturday night, BTW. Trains here in MIami.

Woodley is no slouch and a former champ.

I like how Dana White said he wasn't going to censor anyone- on either side of the argument.