Colby Covington had one wild night in Sao Paulo.
Dominating Demian Maia was the second most impressive thing Colby Covington did on Sunday morning. It was second only to making it out of the Ginásio do Ibirapuera alive after antagonising the crowd into a fury.
The controversial welterweight landed himself in hot water with his Octagon interview after beating Maia to a unanimous decision in the Lion’s Den.
Before Covington spoke the first word, the crowd were drowning him in a sea of boos. Then when he started screaming his spiel, the utter contempt became deafening.
“I should have knocked him out. Brazil, you’re a dump. All you filthy animals suck… we ain’t translating tonight, baby.”
As Covington exited the Octagon, projectiles were thrown in his direction from the crowd. He got his wish by being the most hated man in the arena, but it may come at a cost.
UFC senior vice president David Shaw explained at the post-fight press conference that Covington’s comments are being reviewed after the scene turned ugly in Sao Paulo.
“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. 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.”
On the walk out I get called every name in the book then they chant "You Gonna Die" I poke back at them a bit and everyone loses their mind?
— Colby Covington (@ColbyCovMMA) October 29, 2017
Covington isn’t the first UFC fighter to make offensive comments about Brazil. Not by a long shot.
Trash talk king Chael Sonnen has had an endless slew of unfavourable things to say about the South American country. His two most memorable were perhaps his ‘anecdote’ about the Nogueira brothers trying to feed a bus a carrot when they first came to America, and his joke that he enjoyed American technology while “Anderson (Silva) and the Brazilian kids are sitting outside playing in the mud.”
Conor McGregor also received some backlash during the world tour promoting the Jose Aldo fight by announcing, “I own this town, I own Rio de Janeiro. I would invade his favela on horseback and would kill anyone who wasn’t fit to work, but we’re in a new time, so I’ll whoop his ass instead.”
Neither Sonnen nor McGregor were punished by the UFC over their comments, although it’s important to note that they were aimed at their opponents, not the fans.
Covington has since issued a “formal apology” to anyone he offended but we somehow don’t think it will be accepted…
My formal apology for #ufcsaopaulo @ufc pic.twitter.com/cwS7OTGK99
— Colby Covington (@ColbyCovMMA) October 29, 2017
