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Colby Covington’s time in the octagon has been scarce.
Saturday night at Real American Freestyle on Fox Nation will mark Covington’s fourth fight in nearly as many years. After defeating Jorge Masvidal March 5, 2022, he lost back-to-back fights Dec. 16, 2023, and Dec. 14, 2024.
He had his most recent fight against Joaquin Buckley on a week’s notice after Ian Machado Garry was pulled to fight at UFC 310 against another opponent. At the time, Covington blamed the loss on his campaigning for President Donald Trump, a sentiment he repeated to Brian Kilmeade 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 Aug. 3, 2019, in Newark, N.J. (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 UFC calls me on one week’s notice to take that fight,” Covington said. “So, that wasn’t indicative of the fighter that I am.
“I’m excited that Real American Freestyle gave me a full training camp. I’ve had 12 weeks to refine my skills in the freestyle wrestling art. And I’m gonna 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 MGM Grand Garden Arena Dec. 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 win during Trump’s first presidency. Now, he’s hoping to get back there on June 14 for the UFC event.
“Yeah, that’s the plan, you know, is to use these couple matches in Real American Freestyle as my training camp and then, and then hopefully getting on the White House card and fighting 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 to the following June. It’s Rockhold’s first MMA fight since Aug. 20, 2022.
Colby Covington attends UFC 286 at The O2 Arena March 18, 2023, in London, England. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
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Covington won the UFC welterweight title in 2018 but lost it roughly a year and a half later. In two other championship fights, he was unable to win it back.
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