Colby Covington Spills Guts on White House Snub During Round of Golf

Colby Covington (17-5 MMA, 12-5 UFC) hasn't fought inside the fabled Octagon in approximately one and a half years' time. In December of 2024, MMA's top promotion, the UFC trekked down to south Florida for the final edition of UFC Fight Night on that year's schedule of events.

That second December Saturday night featured Colby Covington fighting on the main event of the evening versus Joaquin Buckley (21-7 MMA, 11-5 UFC.) Although that fight was scheduled for five rounds at five minutes per round, Buckley scored the victory inside the third period of action.

The fight doctor ordered that the contest could not continue in the wake of Covington sustaining a cut above his eye. That defeat served as the second consecutive under MMA rules for the fighter nicknamed "Chaos." Although nobody knew it at the time, the Dec. 14, 2024 fight in Tampa was the most-recent MMA appearance for Colby Covington.

Colby Covington Turns to Real American Freestyle After UFC Tampa Loss

In the wake of the contest in the Sunshine State, Colby Covington was signed by unscripted wrestling promotion Real American Freestyle, a company which was founded by the late Hulk Hogan just prior to his July 2025 passing from a heart attack at 71 years of age. "Chaos" made his RAF promotional debut on Jan. 10 in RAF 05's headlining fight for his first appearance in combat sports in 13 months.

During the Jan. 10 card, Covington took to the mat for a match versus former UFC mainstay Luke Rockhold. His freshman appearance proved successful, winning by technical fall with a 12-0 score. Following that contest, "Chaos" had a quick turnaround for a contest against Dillon Danis on March 28 during RAF 07.

As the saying goes, "Second verse, same as the first." Covington's sophomore RAF match also resulted in a technical fall victory, with this bout ending in a 14-4 final. He now awaits a May 30 showcase versus Chris Weidman in RAF 09. Still, though, Colby Covington was jonesing for a spot on UFC Freedom 250 on June 14 in Washington, DC.

Colby Covington Opens Up on UFC Freedom 250 During Swing Rounds Appearance

Ultimately, the UFC elected not to book Covington for the card on The White House grounds on the second Sunday night of June. Recently, he was a guest of MMA Fighting's Swing Rounds from Crescent Oaks Golf Course in Tampa with Mike Heck, and he gave his thoughts on why he was excluded from the event.

"Every fan thought I was a shoe-in," Covington began. "I thought I was a shoe-in. The talks I was having with Hunter Campbell and UFC was 'We're going to find the right matchup, we're going to get you on The White House card. You can fight in front of your hero, Donald Trump, and put on a show for America.' I thought I was a shoe-in, the American guy."

From there, he pondered a simple, salient question.

"How are we not putting a guy who loves his country so much on the 250th anniversary celebration of America?," he asked. "I just didn't understand how they didn't put me on it."

Colby Covington on Upcoming MVP MMA Card

On May 16, the eyes of the MMA world will be focused on Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions as the company puts on its first-ever MMA show, Highlighting the night is a contest matching Ronda Rousey against Gina Carano.

Later in the interview, Covington talked about the Netflix event from Intuit Dome in Inglewood, CA.

"It's great to get more opportunities," he said. "That's all we want is just opportunities to be able to do what we love, which is compete and fight and do combat sports. It's like Joe Rogan said the other day. He's like, 'Hey, UFC needs competition. There needs to be another promotion that can compete and rival with the UFC,' because otherwise, the UFC just dictates all of the terms and tells the fighters what to do and it's either you take it or leave it."