Did Colby Covington quietly retire from MMA?
It’s been a while since we heard anything from the former interim champion. It’s been so long since they heard Dana White tweet his name that some wonder if “Chaos” has already hung up the gloves and walked away from the fight game.
“Colby used to have regular hits on submission radio. … But in the last few years, he’s done a little less interviews,” MMA journalist James Lynch said in a video on his YouTube channel. “In this interview he did in August, you can read the title here. He’s speaking on the Celebrity Poker Tour. Colby Covington spoke to Helen Yee about poker. When do you plan on coming back and would like to fight Paddy Pimblett or Gilbert Burns? Paddy Pimblett is at lightweight. Gilbert Burns has lost his last four fights. These are not serious call-ups…
“That’s what I think. I talk about it in this video and I talked about it on the live stream. I think Colby is retired. I don’t know why he hasn’t come out and said that. I don’t know why.”
Of course, Covington has never been accused of being a particularly active fighter, but he often made that presence known in interviews and online content. However, ever since his crushing defeat against Joaquin Buckley at the end of last year, there has been radio silence from Covington’s camp.
“Even when Colby was inactive over the last few years, Dana White was at least bringing him up in terms of things being broken…I don’t hear the UFC or Dana White or anyone mention Colby at all,” Lynch added. “Colby seems to have quietly gone away. And what’s interesting is, at the time of recording this, Colby Covington is still ranked No. 11 in the division, but he’s not fighting, and there’s no indication that he’s going to come back and fight anytime soon.”
Outside of the UFC, Covington has established himself as quite the poker player. According to the Hendon Mob Poker Database, ‘Chaos’ has accumulated over $360,000 in winnings from playing cards.
Covington also appeared on the Celebrity Poker Tour and had a hilarious exchange with Henry Cejudo before the event.
“My understanding so far from what I’ve seen and from talking to people in the industry is that Colby is just playing poker and I don’t think there’s any serious talk of him fighting,” Lynch said. “But my big question is why isn’t he coming out and retiring? He’s been slipping away little by little. … And I wonder if we’ll get an announcement here soon. … There’s no indication that he’s going to fight or come back.”
Covington is 12-5 under the UFC banner, with his most notable wins coming over Rafael dos Anjos, Robbie Lawler, Tyron Woodley, and Jorge Masvidal. ‘Chaos’ has struggled to find a winning streak in recent years, going 2-4 in his last six fights, including back-to-back losses to Leon Edwards and the aforementioned Joaquin Buckley.