UFC welterweight Colby Covington crossed paths with heavyweight Fabricio Werdum outside UFC-Sydney hotel and got into a heated altercation on Wednesday, November 15.
Werdum and Covington exchanged some words before Werdum threw a boomerang at Covington. The two were then separated. As Colby walked away, Werdum retrieved the object he had thrown. Werdum followed Covington, who by that time had pulled his phone from his pocket and began streaming the rest of the incident and called Werdum an anti-gay slur.
Covington was also in Australia for a fighter appearance.
Covington was speaking to The MMA Hour’s Ariel Helwani, Werdum sucker punch him the reason the whole brawl emerge.
“All of a sudden I get in the face from the side,” Covington said. “I’m like, ‘Whoa, what’s going on?’ I’m a little concussed, like a little bit messed up in the head. Like, whoa, what just happened? All this heat-of-the-moment type stuff. I look up, and it’s Fabricio Werdum, and he’s still coming at me with his coach Rafael Cordeiro, and they’re acting like they’re gonna jump me.”
Colby revealed both Werdum and his coach Rafael Cordeiro wanted to kill him. Luckily MMA coach John Wood then separated us.
Werdum stated last week, Covington called him Brazilian animal as they crossed the path and admitted that he slapped the phone out of Covington’s hand.
“I knew nothing about Werdum,” Covington said. “His claims are completely lies. I said nothing to him. I didn’t even see him before he hit me in the face. He’s out here saying, ‘Colby was calling me a filthy animal.’ No, I said those comments three weeks ago. Those comments are old. You can’t come up and attack someone because of free speech. It’s not OK to condone violence because of free speech.”
Colby who scored a victory over Demian Maia last month at UFC Sao Paulo and in his post-fight speech called people of Brazil dump and Brazilians “filthy animals.” Covington added Werdum sucker punched him for those comments which are past now.
“Where’s the equality at?” Covington said. “All the people that are saying, ‘Oh, he’s a snitch, he went to the cops.’ Yeah, you know. You’re condoning violence because of free speech. You know what that’s called, Ariel? That’s called fascism. You know who else believed in fascism? Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. It’s not OK, Ariel. There will be justice served.
“He thinks it’s a joke. This ain’t a joke, man. He came up and attacked me. Take away the fact that we’re pro fighters, Ariel. If you’re out in the street and someone comes up to you in the street and hits you in the face because of comments you made on MMA Hour, would that be OK, Ariel?”
During the video streaming, Covington called Werdum anti-gay slur and filthy animal. However, Colby said Werdum used a slur against him first and punched him.
“At that point, my head was all messed up,” Covington said. “I regret anything that I said, because I was a little concussed, man. He hit me in the face. Like, he’s calling me these anti-gay slur remarks a bunch of times. He’s saying I’m gonna kill you, this and that. My head is spinning, I just wanted to get that out there for evidence.
“I have no ill effect towards the LGBTQ community. I actually support them. I have friends that are gay. It’s no disrespect to them. Marriage … that’s a mistake in itself, but that’s a whole other story.”
Later UFC released a statement and said they are looking into the matter.
