Colby Covington continues to rage against the UFC after being left off of the promotion’s highly anticipated White House event.
Following the announcement of the six-fight lineup, which includes lightweight champion Ilia Topuria fighting Justin Gaethje, and Alex Pereira moving up to heavyweight to fight Ciryl Gane for an interim title, Covington called the June 14 card “terrible” and expressed his disappointment at not being called on to perform in front of President Donald Trump.
Covington elaborated on his complaints in an interview with Submission Radio, revealing the UFC matchmakers have other plans for him, including a potential fight with one of the April 18 UFC Winnipeg headliners, Mike Malott or Gilbert Burns.
“I really wanted it,” Covington said. “I asked for anybody. I said I’d fight anybody on God’s green earth on the White House card just to get that opportunity to fight in front of my hero, Donald Trump, and all the great politicians that I’m friends with up in D.C. It’s just unfortunate, but I don’t make the decisions, that’s up to UFC, that’s up to Hunter Campbell, they said they didn’t need my services.
“They said they only wanted me to fight the winner of Malott and Burns, so I respectfully agreed to that like I agree to every fight they’ve ever offered me. It’s just unfortunate, but like the saying goes, life goes on.”
Covington, 38, has appeared sporadically inside the octagon in recent years, fighting once per year from 2020-2024, and logging zero bookings in 2025. His most recent appearance saw him lose via third-round TKO to Joaquin Buckley at UFC Tampa.
According to Covington, his inactivity is completely the UFC’s fault.
“They’ve just had me sitting around for the last 14 months doing nothing, twiddling my thumbs,” Covington said. “They haven’t offered me one f*cking fight. They’re supposed to be offering me three fights a year by contractual law, so I’m not trying to get into a suing match or a pissing match, but it’s just not fair to me, you know? They’re not giving me an opportunity to earn and it’s shitty because not only are you not giving me a chance to earn, you’re not letting me earn anywhere else.
“We’re treated as independent contractors, but they’re treating me like an employee right now because I tried to go wrestle and do a jiu-jitsu match against Arman [Tsarukyan] and they sad, ‘No. No active UFC guys are allowed to compete against each other outside the UFC.’ So I said, ‘What? How does that make sense? We’re independent contractors, but you’re treating me like an employee. You’re saying that if I wash this house, I can’t go wash another house to make money? They’re treating me unfairly and I’m sick of it.”
Though Covington couldn’t book a grappling match with Tsarukyan, he is set to take on Dillon Danis at Real American Freestyle 7 on March 28. If what he says about the UFC wanting him to fight Malott or Burns is true, it could be a long wait before Covington competes in the cage again.
As it stands, Covington accepts his situation, even as he joins the growing list of notable fighters criticizing the UFC’s current business model.
“Every step of the way I’ve been treated like shit,” Covington said. “I’ve tried to play the company role, but I’m just over it. It’s just frustrating and there’s nothing we can do about it. You’ve got to just keep on trucking.”
“I just think that the UFC has checked out,” he later added. “They got the $8 billion from Paramount. They don’t care about putting on the most best, exciting fights. They’re getting guaranteed money, so they’d rather stick a guy out there that’s making 10 and 10 then stick a guy out there like me who makes big money, so that’s just what it is.”
Bo Nickal, who is booked to fight at UFC White House against Kyle Daukaus, reacted to Covington’s comments on Twitter, writing that he hasn’t officially signed on to fight Daukaus and is open to facing Covington instead.
Nickal and Covington have a standing beef, with Covington insulting the three-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion at an RAF show in January after Nickal declined to wrestle Yoel Romero, who badly missed weight for theri scheduled contest.
“Oh the quitter Bo Nickal?” Covington said at the RAF 5 post-match press conference. “I call him ‘Bozo’ Nickals,” Covington said. “He bailed on RAF the last fight against Yoel. He bailed on this one. He quit in his last fight. Actually, I want to apologize to Reinier de Ridder because I called him a Dutch kickboxer. My bad, he’s actually a grappler. So a grappler made Bo quit in the octagon. Bo’s a quitter. I don’t have time for quitters. He can get in line.”
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