Colby Covington has made clear his feelings at being left off the UFC’s White House fight card, as the promotion prepares for an unprecedented event on 14 June.
On that day, the 80th birthday of President Donald Trump, the UFC is expected to build an Octagon on the South Lawn to celebrate 250 years of the United States.
While ringside access will be extremely limited, UFC president Dana White said on Thursday that 85,000 free tickets will be given away, allowing fans entry to a park in the vicinity of the White House.
One person who will not be present, however, is former interim champion Covington, despite his friendship with Mr Trump – who is also close friends with White.
Last weekend brought an unveiling of the six-fight card for 14 June, with six US fighters involved but no sign of Covington, who brought his interim welterweight belt to the Oval Office in 2018.
After initially telling MMA Junkie he was more “bummed” than “bothered”, Covington changed his tune while speaking to Submission Radio.
Covington first told MMA Junkie: “I thought that I was a shoo-in for that spot. I’m the one that brought Trump into UFC back in 2018, when no one was supporting him. There wasn’t an athlete alive that was walking around Times Square supporting him like I was, wearing the MAGA [Make America Great Again] hat in Times Square with my belt and going to media tours.
“I thought I was going to get that call to represent the US and get on that White House card. Unfortunately it wasn’t in their cards. Hunter didn’t give me the opportunity, the UFC didn’t give me the opportunity.
“I wasn’t going to go to Trump. Everyone was like, ‘You should’ve gone to Trump and should’ve asked him for a favour.’ Man, he’s got way more important things to worry about. We’ve got to keep world peace right now.”
Covington also called the White House card “piss-poor at best”, saying: “I think the fans have said it, the fans have spoken. The fans have said they hate it, it’s a terrible card. They promised six or seven title fights. Now they have one title fight and an interim-title fight they put together last minute.
“The thing was just so disorganised. There wasn’t any big, high-ranking American fighters. They have Michael Chandler, who [will be] 40 years old, and then Sean O’Malley – who is a great fighter, love Sean – but besides that, who is the guy representing America on the 250th birthday of America? Doesn’t seem like there’s that guy there.”
In the main event, American star Justin Gaethje will challenge Ilia Topuria for the lightweight title, yet that has not been enough to excite some fans, who see Topuria as a heavy favourite against the interim champ.
In any case, Covington was more heated in his second interview, as the 38-year-old told Submission Radio, “They’re trying to ice me out,” before suggesting the UFC’s plan is to pair him with the winner of Gilbert Burns vs Mike Malott. “It’s been 15 months [since my last UFC fight], and [Burns and Malott] are fighting in April. So, they’re not gonna be able to turn around ‘til third quarter, fourth quarter minimum.
“So it’s like, what do you want me to do? You want me to sit here and just twiddle my thumbs [...]? Like, what the f*** am I supposed to do to earn money, dude? I wanna pay my bills, man. I have a lot of bills. So, it just sucks, man.
“I feel so disrespected by the company after everything I’ve done for them: put the company on my back for the events that I promoted, sold out Madison Square Garden [...] putting my life on the line for their company to make them money, when I was getting paid peanuts – $30k, when I made them tens and hundreds of millions of dollars.
“It’s the most frustrating thing in the world, dude. I get stopped 10, 20 times a day, every day; people are like: ‘When’s your next fight? Why aren’t you fighting?’ I’m like, ‘Bro, I have no control over if I’m fighting or not.’”
American middleweights Bo Nickal and Kyle Daukaus will clash at the White House, although Nickal said this week that he was first offered a bout with Covington, who denied the claim.
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