Colby Covington no longer interim champion, will have to ‘earn’ title shot back
After all the chaos that has unfolded atop the UFC’s welterweight division in late 2018, we now finally have our answer as to how things will shake out.
At March 2, UFC 235’s co-main event will feature the welterweight crown being fought over between the challenger Kamaru Usman, and the champion Tyron Woodley.
But where does this leave the interim champion, Colby Covington? Well, that label no longer belongs to him and he’ll have to re-earn the shot he already earned by the UFC’s decree.
“He’s not the interim champ,” UFC President Dana White told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “We offered a fight to Covington and Covington didn’t take the fight. I say it all the time, 20 years I’ve been saying this, I don’t know how many more times I’ve got to say it, this is a sport of opportunity. When opportunity is there, answer the door, take it. If you don’t, it’s going to take you longer to get back to that belt. I liked the fight that Usman had, Usman was ready to fight anybody and he’s getting the shot.
“Colby now is going to have to fight again and earn the spot to get back.”
In June 2018, Colby Covington fought for and won the UFC interim welterweight championship at UFC 225 by defeating former lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos by unanimous decision.
Since then, he has been sidelined with what was an initially an injury that was followed by some confusion.
Following all of the confusion and title fight making, Covington made it clear that he only wants to fight for ‘what he was promised’ and demands his release otherwise.
When asked about if he would ever release Covington because of this situation, Dana White has said that he would not. Thus making this a very interesting story to follow going forward.
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/1/2019
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Colby Covington UFC
