While Colby Covington got praise from Donald Trump before the fight and put on a strong performance against UFC veteran Robbie Lawler, many were left outraged by the welterweight champ’s post-fight comments.
Dominant. @ColbyCovMMA #UFCNewark pic.twitter.com/pXuoZ9ubtx
— UFC (@ufc) August 3, 2019
Covington took Lawler to the limit for the full match, showing his conditioning and talent against a former champion. Fans were definitely impressed during the fight.
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“Does Colby Covington ever get tired?” one fan wrote on Twitter. “Pretty dominating performance.”
A fired up @ColbyCovMMA wasted no time heading backstage after beating Robbie Lawler #UFCNewark pic.twitter.com/d12PLuIM32
— MMA Junkie (@MMAjunkie) August 3, 2019
“Love him or hate him [Colby Covington] is a real problem,” another wrote. “500 strikes and 20 takedown attempts over 5 rounds is just insanity.”
And echoing the president’s support earlier in the day — which was controversial in its own right — Covington also had Trump support in the arena as Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. were on hand and celebrating the win with the champion.
He was then “whisked away” according to Aaron Bronsteter on Twitter to have a personal phone conversation with President Trump.
Just finished my interview with Colby Covington who was then whisked away to speak on the phone with President Trump. pic.twitter.com/0bvWircCkO
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) August 3, 2019
But it was his post-fight interview that is overshadowing his impressive performance in the ring.
5️⃣0️⃣- 4️⃣4️⃣
5️⃣0️⃣- 4️⃣5️⃣
5️⃣0️⃣- 4️⃣5️⃣Colby Covington with a statement win against Robbie Lawler! 👏
“Don’t matter if this is the Trump Train or the Colby Train, get out of the way!”
His post-fight interview almost as good as his performance! 🤣 pic.twitter.com/xsyW4PeK1D
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) August 3, 2019
“Robbie should have learned a lesson from his buddy Matt Hughes. You stay off the track when the train is coming through,” Covington said. “Doesn’t matter if it’s the Trump train or the Colby train, stay out of the way.”
The comment references Hughes, a friend of Lawler and a UFC Hall of Famer that suffered brain injuries after his truck was hit by a train according to Michael David Smith on Twitter.
“What a classless jerk Covington is,” Smith added.
“For 25 minutes I found myself liking Colby Covington. He was magnificent,” Adam Catterall added on social media. “Then they gave him a microphone and he reminded me of my true feelings towards him.”
“Make no mistake, Colby Covington is one hell of a fighter. His win over Robbie Lawler proved that, beyond any doubt,” Freelance MMA reporter Simon Head tossed out. “But his Matt Hughes reference in his post-fight interview was plan awful and way beyond any “heel persona” he has been cultivating over the last few years.”
One question some fans had after the comments involved Dana White’s feelings and what could happen next.
“That Matt Hughes line Colby Covington just dropped was really rough,” Newsday‘s Ryan Gerbosi pondered on Twitter. “Wonder how that’s going to fly with Dana White.”
