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Colby Covington’s time in the Octagon has been short.
Saturday night on Real American Freestyle on Fox Nation will mark Covington’s fourth fight in nearly as many years. After defeating Jorge Masvidal on March 5, 2022, he lost back-to-back fights on December 16, 2023 and December 14, 2024.
He had his last fight against Joaquin Buckley on a week’s notice after Ian Machado Garry was pulled to fight at UFC 310 against a different opponent. At the time, Covington blamed the loss on his campaign for President Donald Trump, a sentiment he echoed to Brian Kilmeade on Friday.
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Colby Covington celebrates his victory over Robbie Lawler in their welterweight bout during a UFC Fight Night event at the Prudential Center on August 3, 2019 in Newark, NJ (Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
“Everybody knows I was on the campaign trail with Donald Trump. You know, I was out there, you know, trying to save America. You know? I was in New York. I was here, I was there. And then the UFC calls me with a week’s notice to take that fight,” Covington said. “So it wasn’t indicative of the fighter that I am.
“I am thrilled that Real American Freestyle gave me a full training camp. I have had 12 weeks to refine my skills in the art of freestyle wrestling. And I will put on the best performance of my career Saturday night only on Fox Nation.”
Colby Covington on stage during the UFC 296 press conference at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on December 14, 2023 in Las Vegas. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
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Covington visited the White House shortly after a 2018 victory during Trump’s first term. Now he hopes to return on June 14 for the UFC event.
“Yeah, that’s the plan, you know, is to use these couple of fights at Real American Freestyle as my training camp and then hopefully get on the card at the White House and fight on the South Lawn in June for Donald Trump,” Covington said.
Covington will face Luke Rockhold, who was the UFC middleweight champion from December 2015 until the following June. It is Rockhold’s first MMA fight since August 20, 2022.
Colby Covington competes at UFC 286 at the O2 Arena on March 18, 2023 in London, England. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Covington won the UFC welterweight title in 2018, but lost it about a year and a half later. In two other championship matches, he was unable to win it back.
