UFC welterweight Colby Covington courts coverage via offensive statements, and it was on full display leading up to and after his main event fight vs. Tyron Woodley at UFC on ESPN+ 36.
“The Black Lives Matter is a complete sham,” said Covington. “It’s a joke. They’re taking these people that are complete terrorists. They’re taking these people that that are criminals. These aren’t people that are hardworking Americans, blue-collar Americans. These are bad people. They’re criminals.”
Post-fight, Covington got into it with division champion Kamaru Usman, in an exchange that ESPN put on Twitter, but later deleted. It came after Covington received a congratulatory call from President Donald Trump.
“Who did you get a call from? Did you get a call from, freaking, your little tribe? Did they give you some smoke signals for you?” Covington shouted. “You’re a joke, Marty Fakenewsman!”
At the UFC 253 media day at Fight Island, a number of fighters including women’s bantamweight Sijara Eubanks took pointed offense to the remarks, and others like it.
“Let’s be real, tt wasn’t unfortunate, it was flat out racist, what Colby was saying,” she began, as transcribed by Damon Martin for MMA Fighting.com. “It was racist, it was disgusting, and quite frankly disappointing. At the same time, what I do appreciate is the UFC lets whoever say whatever. They have never muzzled us as fighters. If you want to talk, if you don’t want to talk, want to be political, don’t want to be political, and I have to appreciate that the company lets us say what we want.
“It is America, and everybody can think what they want. But I think, to be fair, guys that talk like Mike Perry and Colby Covington, I think a lot of things they say are racist and disgusting. I think it should be reported as such, instead of “unfortunate” or “controversial.” Let’s be real - it’s racist. He’s calling the guy a Marxist and a communist, and he’s saying that he’s un-American. If you’re born in this country, you’re American. I don’t give a damn. If you were born in this country, I don’t care what your background is, what your race is, what your socio-economic status is, you’re an American and that’s it. To have another American say that you’re not, I think it’s flat out f***ed up. It’s more than unfortunate.”
“If I came out and called somebody a redneck or honky or something like that, I don’t think I would get that kind of pat on the wrist like Colby got. People are rushing to his defense, ‘Oh, he’s just promoting himself.’ He doesn’t need to promote himself at this point to that extent. If you can say it out and pretend it’s a schtick or show, I just don’t think playing with something that’s sensitive as race, especially in the timeframe that we’re in, is something that you should use to promote yourself, and I don’t think it’s promotion.
“I think it has to come from some source of how you really feel. If not, you’re a terribly good actor, and quite frankly, it’s disgusting that people defend them. Same thing with Mike Perry. Mike Perry dropped the ‘N’ word all over the place and he pushed around people and women and everyone’s like, ‘Oh, he needs help.’ No, that’s abusive and alcoholic and racist. That’s what it is. I think when it starts getting presented as such, hopefully, things will start to change a little bit.”
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