UFC to review Covington’s ‘inappropriate’ comments
UFC Senior Vice President David Shaw: “We are taking the situation with Covington very seriously. It’s already being reviewed by our code of conduct committee.”
Demian Maia has the best Jiu-Jitsu in the UFC, maybe ever. In order to work his magic, he has to take the fight to the ground. That he was unable to do vs. Colby Covington at UFC Fight Night 119 in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Saturday night, and he stoically lost a bloody fight.
Afterward, Covington continued a heel turn, and he’s no Chael Sonnen, despite trying pretty hard. After the fight Covington ignored the translator and screamed straight to the crowd.
Brazil, you’re a dump,” he said. “All you filthy animals suck! I’ve just got one thing to say – Tyron Woodley, I’m coming for my championship belt.
He then left the Octagon and was showered with debris by the offended crowd. Covington later doubled down in what he called a “formal apology” on his social network.
I went to work last week,” he wrote. “I was screamed at, spit at, assaulted with water bottles and other objects by an angry mob and serenaded by 10,000 voices yelling, ‘You are going to die.’ My employer had to place security at my hotel room to protect me.
“I would like to formally apologize to any filthy animal I offended by comparing them to my hosts in Sao Paulo.”
UFC Senior Vice President David Shaw was not impressed, as he made clear at the post-fight press conference.
Overall, I thought the fan reactions throughout the course of the night were fantastic generally, said Shaw, as transcribed by Adam Guillen Jr for MMA Mania. Brazilian fans are obviously very intelligent, very knowledgeable about the sport, very scrutinizing, and generally it was loud and energetic and boisterous the whole time, he said.
In terms of the fan reactions with Covington fighting, there’s no way for us to support any fans throwing items at any staff or any fighters. However, having said that, we are taking the situation with Covington very seriously. It’s already being reviewed by our code of conduct committee and it’s something that we are not very happy about.
We’ve got to go back and look at it. It’s not something we are proud of. Our investment and our support of Brazilian fans, Brazilian athletes and the Brazilian market is steadfast and will continue. I think in our opinion it’s just something that is uncalled for and inappropriate.