The former three-time welterweight title challenger only competed once per calendar year dating back to late 2019 and during that span lost four of six, including his final two UFC fights against former champion Leon Edwards and Top 10 contender Joaquin Buckley.
Despite the nickname “Chaos,” there really wasn’t anything chaotic about his performances. Covington was a bland wrestler who only registered one stoppage over the last 10 years and that came by way of fifth-round rib injury against Tyron Woodley in late 2020.
“I don’t know if it’s necessarily as deep as saying he’s (doing it) out of spite because of the White House card, I don’t think it’s necessarily that deep,” longtime rival, Kamaru Usman, said on his Pound 4 Pound podcast. “There’s a lot of unhappiness, disgruntlement from not just Covington, but quite a few different athletes. But Covington hasn’t been getting that frequency of activity — and not that he can’t compete, because we do know he can compete because he is competing at RAF, and he’s doing pretty well.”
Usman holds two championship wins over Covington, first at UFC 245 and then again at UFC 268.
“Obviously, I have a long history with Colby Covington,” Usman continued. “There’s some type of disconnect between Covington and the UFC, and why they can’t get him in there or why isn’t he getting fights that he wants or just fights period. I don’t understand why (he retired), because let’s be honest: Any fight Covington is going to be in is going to be a fight that you want to keep your eye on, because either you like him or either you hate him, you want to see this guy.”
