Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 5 welterweight bout between Colby Covington and Robbie Lawler was easily won by Covington, but it was his post-fight comments that caught the attention of UFC fans.
After being declared the winner by unanimous decision at the Prudential Center, Covington took the microphone and invoked the train accident of Lawler’s friend and UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes. The June 2017 accident left Hughes with a traumatic brain injury after his truck collided with a train in Illinois.
Covington used that accident as fodder for post-fight trash talk, saying that Lawler should have learned his lesson from Hughes.
Covington said:
“Let’s talk about the lesson that we learned tonight. It’s a strong lesson that Robbie should have learned from his good buddy Matt Hughes. You stay off the tracks when the train is coming through, junior. Doesn’t matter if it’s the Trump train or the Colby train, get out the way.”
Understandably, plenty of UFC fans took exception to Covington’s remarks.
Hughes, who had a restraining order filed against him by his estranged wife after alleged domestic abuse, issued his response to Covington on Instagram.
He wrote:
Not sure if @colbycovmma should have use my accident as fuel for his post-fight trash talk, but that was one heck of a fight. Nice win for @americantopteam, and @ruthless_rl always puts on a good fight. Reminder though, this is the fighting world. People trash talk and you gotta have thick skin.
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