LAS VEGAS – Colby Covington is adamant he won’t allow UFC president Dana White to place the welterweight championship belt around his waist at UFC 245.
Covington (15-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) is not the least bit concerned about whether or not he’ll dethrone champ Kamaru Usman (15-1 MMA, 10-0 UFC) in Saturday’s headliner, which takes place at T-Mobile Arena and airs on pay-per-view. “Chaos” is certain it’s going to happen.
What won’t happen after, though, he said, is White crowning him with gold. The relationship between White and Covington never has been great, but a difficult negotiation to finalize the matchup with Usman apparently fractured it even further.
For that reason, Covington said he’s paying no mind to the UFC boss.
“Everybody knows I ain’t got nothing to say to Uncle Fester,” Covington said during Wednesday’s UFC 245 athlete panel at MGM Grand Casino & Resort. “He’s not going to wrap that belt (around my waist) on Saturday night. I promise you that.”
Although White putting the belt on a title winner is longstanding tradition, Covington said it’s not something he cares about. He thinks any legitimacy to that moment was washed away after the “BMF” title fight between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz, when a fictional belt was placed on the winner by celebrity superstar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Because of that, Covington doesn’t want White in the middle of the octagon with him after his win and would prefer someone who better aligns with his character – a conservative, Donald Trump-supporting political commentator.
“It was tradition until they did the ‘Broken Mediocre Fighting’ championship last (month) in New York, and they gave away that Bernie Sanders participation trophy, and they let The Rock put it on ‘Journeyman Jorge’ (Masvidal),” Covington said. “So, I want Candice Owens to put it around my waist on Saturday night.”
