Colby Covington explained his ideology behind trash-talking in combat sports.
Over the past five years, Covington has become one of the most controversial fighters in mixed martial arts due to the mental warfare he implements against his opponents. ‘Chaos’ has turned up the intensity of his trash talk over his last three fights, leading to backlash from fans.
Most recently, Covington became an enemy to most of the MMA community after referencing Leon Edwards’ deceased father during the UFC 296 press conference. Yet, the 35-year-old American doesn’t stress over the backlash because there is a method to his madness.
‘Chaos’ recently did an interview with Tucker Carlson in the aftermath of his UFC 296 main event loss against Edwards. Carlson asked Covington about trash-talking in combat sports, and the former UFC welterweight title challenger responded by saying:
“Yeah, [trash talking] absolutely works. The process is just to try and get in the physiological part of someone’s mind and alter them, make them fight with emotions. When you fight with emotions, you’re not going to fight the same as if you’re in a free state where you can just not think and you can just do it off of intuition. If you can get in someone’s head and make them super mad, where they’re just going to abandon their gameplan, they just want to hurt you, they want to knock you out, then you’re at an advantage.”
Covington followed up by explaining how his trash talk leads to more pay-per-views sold:
“Also, there’s a huge aspect to it too because it sells pay-per-views and it creates engagement. It makes it so people aren’t going to be down the middle. They’re either going to hate you or they’re going to love you. That’s what you want because even the haters, they aren’t going to turn the TV to watch Real Housewives of Miami. No, they’re going to keep it on UFC because they wanna see you lose. Then people that respect you and like you, they’re going to keep watching because they want to see you win. They want to see you keep rising.”
Watch Colby Covington reference Leon Edwards’ deceased father below:
Leon Edwards throws a bottle at Colby Covington after he mentioned his dad 😳 @ufc pic.twitter.com/wbqtSLJ5Iq
— FIGHTING LTD (@fighting_ltd) December 15, 2023
Colby Covington claims past opponents have thanked him for making them more money through trash talk
There’s no doubt that Colby Covington made things personal for his fights against Leon Edwards, Jorge Masvidal, and Kamaru Usman. With that said, the heated rivalries for those three matchups reportedly led to an increase in pay-per-views sold, putting more money in both fighters’ pockets.
During the previously mentioned interview with Tucker Carlson, Covington had this to say about his opponents allegedly thanking him after seeing how much money they made:
“Yeah, people take it personally. They don’t realize. It’s funny because all of the people who have taken it personal in the past, during the time, after their checks cleared their banks, they realize, ‘Hey man, I actually appreciate everything you did, Colby. You made me a lot more money, otherwise, if you would have just been quiet and acted like a mule. But, the fact you were vocal and made it more animosity-filled for the fight, that made me more money in the long run. So, thank you, Colby.’”
Following UFC 296, Colby Covington called out Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson, who also lost on the same night against Shavkat Rakhmonov. ‘Chaos’ also claimed he plans to be more active after not fighting for over a year and a half following his win against Jorge Masvidal.
Watch Colby Covington’s entire interview with Tucker Carlson below:
Ep 57. Imagine any other sports league employing a guy like Colby Covington. Impossible.
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) Why does Rosie O’Donnell hate Colby?
(12:25) Trump’s chances in 2024
(15:37) The art of talking trash
(23:10) Becoming a fighter pic.twitter.com/fgK5hX852z— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) December 27, 2023
