Colby Covington provided an update on his foot injury suffered in the UFC 296 main event and what’s next for his fighting career.
In December 2023, Covington challenged Leon Edwards for his welterweight title in the UFC 296 main event. After hyping up the fight with controversial trash talk, ‘Chaos’ ultimately showcased an uninspiring performance and lost by unanimous decision.
Following the disappointing defeat, Covington revealed he suffered a foot injury at the beginning of the fight, limiting his key weapons of forward pressure and wrestling. During a recent interview with Submission Radio, the American superstar reflected on the loss by saying:
“The result wasn’t what I wanted. It wasn’t my night, but I broke my foot right away and couldn’t plant or explode off of it to use the pressure and wrestling I planned to use. I didn’t want to disclose this information until I had to X-rays back home…I knew straight away it was bad because it was the first kick I threw. It landed right on his elbow.”
Covington followed up by discussing if he needed surgery and when he plans to return:
“Thankfully it wasn’t displaced, so I didn’t have to get surgery…Eight to twelve weeks of healing and then probably another three to four weeks of getting my footing back…I’ll be back by in no time, by summer for sure I’ll be back and ready to main event, headline, do the biggest and best business with the UFC.”
Covington dug himself in a hole with the MMA community by not delivering on fight night following a week’s worth of trash talk. ‘Chaos’ had this to say about the backlash he received:
“I thought [the backlash] was unwarranted, but the fans are the fans, and I respect the fans. They are allowed to have their own opinion. They don’t have to have the same exact opinion as me. I think they were quick to run to rush to an opinion and judgment without knowing the facts. This is the facts, I’m on one leg. I had literally three different fractures in the mid-foot…These people [the fans], they are throwing stones out of a glass house. They don’t go to work if they are sick one day.”
Colby Covington goes after Ian Garry and other potential opponents for his next UFC fight
Colby Covington targeted Ian Garry with mental warfare during the UFC 296 fight week, where Garry was supposed to take on Vicente Luque. As a result, Garry released a list of fighters he plans to take out, including his upcoming opponent Geoff Neal and Colby Covington.
During the previously mentioned interview with Submission Radio, Covington had this to say about potentially fighting Garry or another ranked welterweight:
“If he can get through the bust boy [Geoff Neal], and the UFC deems that the biggest and best business the UFC can do in the welterweight division, then let’s do it…There’s a lot of options. We have Gilbert [Burns] coming up, that fat lesbian…I think Wonderboy makes the most sense. The ultimate nice guy vs. the ultimate bad guy.”
Following his UFC 296 loss, Colby Covington called out Stephen Thompson. The Karate specialist fought the same night as Edwards vs. Covington, suffering a second-round submission loss against Shavkat Rakhmonov. It’s unclear if the UFC is interested in booking ‘Chaos’ vs. ‘Wonderboy.’
Watch Colby Covington’s interview with Submission Radio below:
