Colby Covington isn’t happy with the way UFC handled recent negotiations in an effort to book the fight against Kamaru Usman.
“My side of the story is, I’m ready to fight, I was ready to fight, but the UFC came to be with the basic challenger’s offer,” Covington said to MMA Junkie. “I’m a champion. There was no negotiation. They came and ran at me and said, “Here, take this, or leave it and we’ll pass it on to the next person”. That’s not fair negotiating and that’s not right. So I’m not going to take the first offer that you offer me.”
Covington explained he wants to be paid what his worth. In his mind, he’s the A-side in this fight and should be compensated as such.
“We need to meet in the middle,” Covington said. “There’s more that needs to be done. But also, I’m the A-side and you can’t even get the B-side done with Usman. Why are we even rushing this if you can’t get the B-side done. Usman didn’t want to fight anybody. He didn’t want to fight me. He didn’t want to fight my ex-best friend Jorge. He didn’t want to fight Leon Scott (Leon Edwards). The problem is Usman. The problem has nothing to do with me.”
As he voiced his frustrations, Covington’s main selling points were his popularity and ability to garner attention.
“I was just asking for what I deserved and what I earned,” Covington said. “I put my life on the line for this company. You know that post-fight promo in Brazil. You know I accepted a fight for this title in Brazil again after I had death threats and favelas wanting my head out in Brazil. I was still willing to go out and put my life on the line for this company.
“I continue to do it time and time again. Go to their shows, sell their shows, get people excited about the UFC brand, branching out and giving my time and money out-of-pocket to go visit the service-members that serve our country in the military.”
