Outside Source
Colby Covington was a controversial figure during his UFC tenure. | Getty/UFC
Colby Covington appears to be calling it a career — at least in MMA.
Multiple outlets confirmed that “Chaos” has informed the UFC of his retirement after the promotion listed the former welterweight title challenger as “retired” on its official website. Social media account UFC Roster Tracker was first to bring word that Covington was no longer part of the UFC roster.
Covington hasn’t competed in MMA since December 2024, when he suffered a third-round TKO defeat to Joaquin Buckley at UFC on ESPN 63. The 38-year-old Springfield, Oregon, native lobbied hard for a spot on the UFC White House but was ultimately not included in the June 14 event. After the fight card was announced, Covington admitted that his relationship with the UFC had gone downhill in recent months and claimed that fighters typically have “no say” in negotiations.
Shifting Focus
Covington has maintained an active schedule for wrestling organization Real American Freestyle thus far in 2026. After earning victories over Luke Rockhold and Dillon Danis earlier this year, Covington is slated to wrestle Chris Weidman at RAF 9 on May 30. In a recent interview, the former junior college national champion at Iowa Central Community College admitted that he was primarily focused on competing for RAF going forward.
Covington won 10 of his first 11 fights in the UFC, capturing the interim welterweight strap in the process. While he was successful in the Octagon, his polarizing persona in interviews and on social media helped him garner more attention — though not all of it put him in a positive light. Still, Covington received three shots at undisputed 170-pound gold, falling to Kamaru Usman (twice) and most recently, Leon Edwards in December 2023. Even as he was largely inactive in recent months, Covington remained a popular callout target for many fighters in the UFC. Covington finished his UFC tenure with a 12-5 mark, losing four of his last six appearances.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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