Colby Covington is a UFC Welterweight fighting out of the prestigious American Top Team camp in Coconut Creek, Florida. Covington Wrestled at Oregon State where he became a two-time Pac-10 champion and earned himself All-American status.
Colby “Chaos” Covington made his UFC debut in Macau, China at UFC Fight Night 48. In a card that most people found lack luster, besides Dana White removing a judge and Michael Bisping removing Cung Le’s face, Covington was a welcomed highlight. Covington stopped his Opponent, Wang Anying, by ref stoppage in the first round.
I sat down with Colby, after a much needed rest, to welcome him home and discuss the experience of fighting in China.
Aaron Robbins: Colby, thank you for taking time to sit down with me. How about we start off with some background on you for the fans who don’t know you yet?
Colby Covington: “No Problem. Ok, my background is, I’m from Springfield, Oregon. I wrestled my whole life and as I was growing up I saw a lot of the guys were trying out MMA, they were checking out the amateur scene. They loved it, and had fun with it. It was a good way to keep competing if you didn’t think you could make an Olympic wrestling team. I thought my wrestling style would be a good fit for MMA, I felt the way I wrestle fits up perfect for fighting; so I got into it.”
AR: From what I saw, I would have to agree, your wrestling works great. Where was your first training camp?
CC: “My first camp was Team Quest. I trained with some pretty big names right out of the gate. Guys like Chael Sonnen, Matt Lindland, and I had a bunch of other good guys around me. Yeah I trained MMA there with those guys and had my first amateur fight in the promotion kind of ran by those guys called Full Contact Fight Federation.”
AR: Wow, Team Quest right off the bat; that’s fantastic. So it’s safe to say that you were preparing for the higher level of the sport from the beginning. Tell us what brought you to American Top Team.
CC: “I ended up at ATT through my wrestling coach, Troy Bennet from Iowa Central Junior College; I went there for two years. He is a very important person to me. I’ve gone through some rough points in my life, and he has always been there to set me back on the path. He’s trained top level guys like Joe Soto, he invited me to Top Team and I’ve been there ever since.”
AR: So you’ve trained with Soto? He recently had a pretty interesting experience with T.J. Dillashaw. I had a chance to talk with him just recently.
CC: “Yeah, you should ask him about the pillow fights we used to have in our apartment.”
AR: Say what now? Pillow fights, you feel like expanding on that?
CC:“(Laughs) Yeah man, it was me, Jon Jones, and Soto living together and just the crazy stuff that roommates do. No big deal. Hell yeah, me and Jones actually shared the same room. Jon took the top bunk because I didn’t want to fall off the bed and hurt myself.”
AR: Well no, you wouldn’t want to do that! That’s hilarious. Alright Colby, let’s talk about your training camp leading up the fight in Macau.
CC: “My training camp was perfect for this fight. All of my fights before, my five professional fights, I’ve pretty much taken on a week’s notice. In the past I’ve never been able to prepare and really show off what I’m actually capable of. I had a full eight weeks to prepare and I think that’s what led to me performing so well in Macau. Coach Liborio has always believed in me, and has helped me improve my Jiu Jitsu, which I think has evolved a lot. Mikey Rodriguez took me under his wing when I had a broken hand and we worked together for like three or four months training with one hand until the other hand got better. He has really helped me improve my stand-up, my movement, and my timing. He’s a great coach; I can’t give enough respect to him. I have to say thanks to my good friend and training partner Jorge Masvidal, he helped me out. Mike Brown went all the way to China to be in my corner, he is a great coach as well. I really appreciate ATT and everybody there for giving me that platform to excel. I have so many top level guys surrounding me; I expect to do big things.”
AR: That’s a good expectation, speaking of big things; tell us about your experience in China.
CC: “Its half way around the world on the other side of the planet. I could’ve dug down and found myself back in the U.S.A. I’m just kidding, but for real it was a long flight. With what I’m doing I expect to travel the world, but it was pretty awesome. The people were amazing; I can’t tell you how much I appreciate them. They made sure we were comfortable, and took care of anything we needed for the weight cut. They were taking us around, complete strangers, and taking us to temples and showing us the local attractions. I was able to relax and just be a tourist before I had to get in the cage and fight. I’m very thankful to the fans over there. It was life-changing, something I’ll never forget.”</>
AR: How did it feel to step into the octagon for the first time?
CC: “If you could see me during the walk-out, you would’ve seen a big smile on my face. I worked my whole life for something like that. I feel like it was over-due in my mind, maybe not to others but, I had some set-backs with injuries. It was overwhelming, there are no words that accurately describe stepping into the UFC cage for the first time.”
AR: That must have been simply mind-blowing. Now we all saw you crush your opponent, Wang Anying, in the first round of your debut. The fight ended up being called a submission, which was confusing to me. I thought it was a TKO. What’s your opinion on that? Did you see him tap, or hear him quit?
CC: “Yeah, I’m not sure why it was a submission. I thought it was a TKO, I didn’t find out until after that it was considered a sub. I was hoping to get that first TKO on my record, but at the same time how many fights do you see where a guy taps out due to strikes? I can’t remember that last time I saw one, so I guess that’s pretty cool.”
AR: I definitely thought it was cool Colby. Any idea what’s next for you?
CC: “I really want to get back into action, but at the same time I have to be smart. I have to train hard and fill any of the gaps in my skill-set. I would like to fight in November or December, but I’m just going to listen to my trainers and the UFC. I’ll take whatever comes next.”
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