Over two years ago at UFC Fight Night Sao Paulo, a potential soon to be free agent in Covington cut the infamous “filthy animals” promo and Covington says that promo saved his UFC career.
“I’ve never told this story before but three fights ago, before I fought the No. 2 guy in the world, this guy named Demian Maia, in Brazil, they had told my manager Dan Lambert that they weren’t going to re-sign me,” Covington told Candace Owens in a recent interview (via Jed Meshew of MMA Fighting). “They didn’t like my style, they didn’t like that I wasn’t entertaining, and this is before I really started to become an entertainer and really understand the entertainment aspect of this business. So before this fight they told me no matter what happens, I was ranked No. 6 in the world, ‘We’re not re-signing you. We don’t like your character. We don’t like your fighting style.’ And I’m getting paid $30,000 to go fight the No. 2 guy in the world. After you pay taxes and pay your coaches, you’re really going to get like, $5000 or $10,000. So I go out there and I beat him up and leave him in a pool of blood in Sao Paulo, Brazil, his home city, and I shoot this promo on the Brazilians and I say, ‘You guys are all a bunch of filthy animals and Brazil you’re a dump.’... So I go and shoot this promo, and I wasn’t supposed to have my job, but that promo goes so viral on the internet, that the UFC’s like, ‘We have to keep him. We have to re-sign him because that promo is so big.’ So that’s what saved my career and that was the turning point of my career and the rest has been history.”
The controversial Covington would go onto win the UFC Interim Welterweight Title and is now less than a week away from potentially becoming the UFC Welterweight Champion.
Covington also admits that he amps everything up to ensure the fans always get the show that they pay for.
“When I’m on camera, I’m amping everything up to 110 because this is the show business, entertainment...” Covington said. “I’m entertaining. I’m putting on a show for the fans because that’s what they want to see. That’s what they pay their hard-earned money for, so I’ve got to give it to them.”
UFC 245 takes place on Saturday, December 14 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
