After proving his haters wrong and beating ex-lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos in the co-main event of UFC 225, the newly-crowned interim welterweight champion Colby Covington appeared on FOX Sports 1 post-fight show and immediately calling out broadcast team as haters for favoring ‘RDA’ to beat him. Former champion Michael Bisping fired back at Covington and called ‘Chaos’ a ‘prick’ for running his mouth.
That heated exchange drew some criticism and Bisping address those during a recent episode of his Believe You Me podcast: (Via MMAFighting)
“He came right hot out of the gate,” Bisping said. ”I get it, the guy’s charged and he’s kind of made a career out of being controversial and what-not. Maybe if I could do it again I’d calm down, I‘d bring it down just a notch but the first thing he said was ‘Hey, I’ve got all my haters in one spot. Blah blah blah.’ So I said, hold on a minute, just listen, we actually gave you a lot of compliments. . .
“Colby Covington, he’s Mr. controversy. Everywhere he goes he tries to create controversy. For crying out loud, he Tweets out spoilers to the new Star Wars movies and things like that. So when he came on, the first thing he did was, ‘f**k you guys up there on the panel. Kiss my ass, you all picked me to lose!’ So I thought, okay here we go, we’ve got Colby Covington in rare form – this is what he likes to do – so I thought maybe I’d be a sparring partner for him.
“I wasn’t offended by anything that he said. . . I thought if Colby wants to have a Colby-esque moment and create drama and controversy then I’ll be a sparring partner with him. I gave it back to him a little bit.“
Fellow analyst and UFC commentator Jon Anik came to Covington’s defense and said Bisping has lack of professionalism and calling his behavior “disgraceful.”
Later Anik eventually felt the need to apologize to former champ Bisping for his antagonistic take on the ‘Count’s approach. Bisping accepted his apology and said he has no ill feeling toward him.
However, it didn’t stop Michael Bisping from sending some sarcastic jab whats so ever.
“We all have different styles,” Bisping joked. ”Jon obviously wouldn’t do that – and I love Jon, don’t get me wrong, I‘m having a bit of fun here – but we’ve got different styles. Jon wouldn’t have done that and I wouldn’t go to social media to berate a colleague. We’ve all just got different styles.”
“Those comments stung a little bit,” Bisping said. ”If you’ve got a problem, maybe just shoot me a text, maybe give me some advice. Maybe say, ‘Yo Mike, just giving you some advice as a friend. When you’re in that position, try and separate yourself as a fighter.’ Maybe try and guide me along. Don’t say, ‘Hey, I’m hoping this motherf**ker gets fired. He definitely needs to be reprimanded by Fox and this is disgraceful and he should be ashamed.’
“There’s no beef. I respect Jon greatly. I respect him as a commentator, I respect him as a professional, and as a person. I truly do, I’m just having a bit of fun with it. He said it, he apologized, whatever. I couldn’t care less. I’m not in the habit of trying to make enemies. I’m trying to make friends and not hold grudges against people for a silly little Tweet.“
Covington is likely to face welterweight champ Tyron Woodley in a title unification bout late in the year.
