Colby Covington slams welterweight “joke” Stephen Thompson: “He should probably just retire”

UFC welterweight Colby Covington slammed divisional rival Stephen Thompson, calling him a “joke” and saying “he should probably just retire.”

Covington is set to face UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman in a rematch later this year for the 170lbs gold, but Thompson is hopeful that he will jump past Covington in the title queue with a win over Gilbert Burns at UFC 264 next month. As the highest-ranked fighter who hasn’t fought Usman yet, Thompson believes that a big win over Burns could help him jump past Covington and Leon Edwards when it comes to the title shot order.

If you ask Covington, however, Thompson shouldn’t be anywhere near a title shot right now. Speaking to MMAFighting.com‘s Mike Heck, Covington trashed Thompson, calling him a “joke” and suggesting that he doesn’t deserve a title shot against Usman because he already lost to Tyron Woodley in the past. In fact, Covington is now suggesting that Thompson retire from the sport despite being one of the top-five ranked welterweights.

“The guy is a joke. He thinks he’s cool with his karate. He’s not a well-rounded fighter and he doesn’t deserve anything. He’s already had his title shots. He doesn’t deserve anything. Honestly, he should probably just retire,” Covington said.

“He’s gonna get hurt, for sure. He’s gonna come back for a paycheck, and these guys don’t know when to leave. You’ve got to know when it’s your time to hang it up. Your time has passed, you’re gonna get really hurt if you want to stay in this. But some guys want to take a paycheck to ruin their health.”

It will be interesting to see if Thompson responds to these choice comments from “Chaos” or if he just chalks it up to another instance of Covington trying to get under his skin.

How do you think a matchup between Colby Covington and Stephen Thompson would go?