Covington claimed a victory over veteran Brazilian fighter Demian Maia in a three-round welterweight (170-pound) match at Geraldo Jose de Almeida Gymnasium in Sao Paulo. The judges scored the bout 29-27, 30-27, and 30-26 for the former Iowa Central Community College and Oregon State mat champ. It was the fifth straight win for Covington, who is now 13-1 in his MMA career, and 8-1 in UFC competition.
"Maia (25-8, 19-8 UFC) outstruck the NCAA All-American wrestler through much of the first round, opening a cut below his right eyebrow with a series of clubbing left hands. However, the success was short-lived," Sherdog.com. "Covington hit his stride in picked him the middle stanza, sprawled out of attempted takedowns from the weary Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and apart from the outside. He moved forward in Round 3, pressured and bloodied the stationary Maia with punches, denied his bid for takedowns and made him pay with heavy ground-and-pound in the waning moments."
Covington had taken what Sherdog.com described as "an outspoken approach" in the week leading up the Maia bout, vowing to retire the 39-year-old inside of a round. Even though the match went the distance, Covington still fired off brash comments afterwards -- not just against his opponent, but also the country which hosted the event, referring to Brazil as a "dump" and its residents as "filthy animals" -- which, not surprisingly, angered Brazilian fans, who threw bottles and trash at him as he left the cage.
"It's a disappointment to me. I came here to retire Demian Maia and finish him tonight. But after that, I don't think he is coming back, so I am happy with that," Covington said. "The crowd reaction was what I was looking for, they hate me and I don't respect them. They don't need to translate what I said because I was talking to America, where my fans support me."
In addition, Covington dissed UFC welterweight champ -- and former University of Missouri wrestler -- Tyron Woodley, who had defended his title against Maia three months earlier at UFC 214.
"Tyron Woodley, look what I did to Demian Maia in three rounds. I beat him way worse than Woodley could do in five rounds," Covington said. "The only person I want to see in a contract in front of my face is Tyron Woodley. He's been running from me, I have beat him in the gym before, I will finish him inside the Octagon."
Covington and Woodley were once teammates at America's Top Team. The former Oregon State Beaver claimed to have forced the Mizzou mat alum to quit before the completion of a five-round sparring session in the gym.
"I finished him inside three rounds," Covington said of his former teammate regarding that sparring session. "He was supposed to go five rounds that day. He said, ‘I quit. I'm not going no more.' He didn't want to go. He didn't like the pace. Look at how he fights. He backs up, he's scared to fight. He fights conservative. I'll finish him. He will break inside that Octagon. He will quit in there. I promise you that."
The UFC expressed its displeasure with Covington and promised a review.
"Overall, I thought the fan reactions throughout the course of the night were fantastic generally," said UFC senior vice president David Shaw in a post-fight press conference. "Brazilian fans are obviously very intelligent, very knowledgeable about the sport, very scrutinizing, and generally it was loud and energetic and boisterous the whole time.
"In terms of the fan reactions with Covington fighting, there's no way for us to support any fans throwing items at any staff or any fighters," Shaw continued. "However, having said that, we are taking the situation with Covington very seriously. It's already being reviewed by our code of conduct committee and it's something that we are not very happy about."
"It's not for me to say at this point what could possibly happen, but we'll be reviewing it over the course of the weekend and early next week."
Sunday afternoon, Covington issued what he labeled as a "formal apology" with wording that would not earn the approval of Miss Manners.
"I went to work last week. I was screamed at, spit at, assaulted with water bottles and other objects by an angry mob and serenaded by 10,000 voices yelling "you are going to die." My employer had to place security at my hotel room to protect me.
"I would like to formally apologize to any filthy animal I offended by comparing them to my hosts in São Paulo. Sincerely, Colby Covington."
Before launching his pro mixed martial arts career, Covington had a successful amateur wrestling career. While in high school in Oregon, he won a state title. Covington then headed east to Iowa Central Community College, where he won the 165-pound National Junior College title as a freshman. He later returned to Oregon, where he wrestled for Oregon State. As a Beaver, he won two Pac-10 conference crowns, and earned All-American honors at the 2011 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.
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