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Colby Covington has incited backlash from fellow UFC fighters and sponsors.
The top-ranked UFC welterweight contender defeated Tyron Woodley via TKO at UFC Vegas 11 on Saturday. Woodley used his fight-week platform advocating for Black Lives Matter. After defeating Woodley, Covington pounced on the opportunity to incite hate around the movement.
Covington: BLM are ‘terrorists’
“He’s standing up for lifelong criminals, Covington said of Woodley. “The Black Lives Matter is a complete sham. It’s a joke. They’re taking these people that are complete terrorists. They’re taking these people that that are criminals.”
Covington closed his commentary with a personal attack of Woodley, leaning on common political rhetoric used to discredit the Black Lives Matter movement.
“He’s a communist,” Covington said. “He’s a Marxist. He stands for criminals. He hates America, and that’s why he got broke tonight.”
Covington also goaded Nigerian welterweight champion Kamaru Usman with references to his "little tribe" and "smoke signals," according to ESPN.
‘Flat-out racist’
Fellow UFC fighters heard Covington’s rhetoric and spoke out on Wednesday during a media session promoting UFC 253. They also levied criticism toward media for how Covington’s remarks have been framed.
“Let's be real, first and foremost,” bantamweight Sijara Eubanks said, per ESPN. “It wasn't ‘unfortunate.’ It was flat-out racist. It was racist. It was disgusting. It was quite frankly disappointing.”
Eubanks went on to compare Covington to Mike Perry, a UFC fighter who has repeatedly used the N-word in public.
“But to be fair, I think guys that talk like Mike Perry and Colby Covington, I think a lot of the things they say are racist and disgusting and should be reported as such, instead of ‘unfortunate’ or ‘controversial,’” Eubanks continued. “It's racist.”
Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is headlining Saturday’s card. He also called out Covington and the public portrayal of his comments while speaking to the news media.
“This guy has directly insulted my culture, my brother and many other cultures, and no one says anything,” Adesanya said. “But it just shows you a mirror. Shows you a mirror to you guys.”