Former UFC welterweight champion Colby Covington announces retirement

One of the most bombastic and polarizing fighters of the past decade, Colby Covington is calling it a career.

According to reports, Covington informed the UFC of his decision to retire on Monday, thus ending a career that began professionally in 2012.

One of the most enigmatic and brash fighters, the former welterweight champion rose to fame when he beat Rafael Dos Anjos via unanimous decision in June 2018 to win the interim welterweight belt.

His reign didn’t last long as nasal surgery forced him out of a unification title fight with Tyron Woodley later that year. However, Covington got the chance to have the welterweight belt again when he faced Kamaru Usman in Dec. 2019. A back-and-forth brawl that was even on the scorecards heading into the fifth and final round ended when Usman scored a TKO.

Once a member of American Top Team, Covington began feuding with the majority of them — including Dustin Poirier, Jorge Masvidal and Joanna Jędrzejczyk — and eventually left in March 2020.

Before getting his rematch with Usman, Covington got his fight with Woodley in 2020 and made it count by securing a TKO in the fifth round. In the rematch for the welterweight belt against Usman in November 2021, Covington again came up short when he fell by unanimous decision.

Following the loss, Covington’s feud with former teammate Masvidal really heated up. Once teammates and roommates, their relationship deteriorated when Masvidal accused Covington of failing to pay their mutual striking coach. With shots fired, Covington adapted an extreme “villain” persona to save his UFC career, which included racial slurs and mocking of Masvidal, his family and religious beliefs.

The two settled the score in in March 2022 when they met in a five-round showdown in Las Vegas. While Masvidal promised he was going to end his longtime rival, Covington got the final say when he battered his hated rival for 25 minutes in one of the most humiliating defeats of Masvidal’s career.

Following the win, Covington got one more shot at the belt when he faced then-champion Leon Edwards in December 2023. But the result was the same as the previous ones for Covington, a unanimous decision loss.

Without knowing it at the time and what became the final fight of his career, Covington suffered a deep cut above his left eye, eventually resulting in a loss to Joaquin Buckley.