Colby Covington is now the UFC interim welterweight champion — though he assures he’s actually the undisputed champion. Covington earned this lofty title with a hard-fought decision victory over former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos in the co-main of UFC 225 on Saturday night.
Though Covington is one of the most controversial and villainous figures in mixed martial arts today, his victory was impressive enough that even some of his biggest haters were applauding him. Then again, some members of the MMA community stuck to their guns, trashing the notorious heel even in the wake of his title win.
Here are some of the best reactions to Colby Covington’s UFC 225 interim title victory:
Get this bitch ready! @ufc @danawhite hit my line now! pic.twitter.com/6gzKwyvKpH
— Tyron T-Wood Woodley (@TWooodley) June 10, 2018
Welterweight is Great Again!
— Chael Sonnen (@ChaelSonnen) June 10, 2018
Colby Covington is the UFC interim champion! Love him or hate him. @ColbyCovMMA is game man. He grinds and goes crazy hard. #imo
— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) June 10, 2018
Colby fought a tremendous fight but RDA did not fight a smart fight IMO. @ufc
— Alan Jouban (@AlanJouban) June 10, 2018
Love him or hate him, Colby fought a great fight and definitely deserves the win #ufc225
— Sarah Kaufman (@mmasarah) June 10, 2018
What a f*cking pace!! #ufc225
— Alex Volkanovski (@alexvolkanovski) June 10, 2018
https://twitter.com/ALIAQUINTA/status/1005666138636898305
https://twitter.com/DerekBrunson/status/1005668801093013505
I can't believe this guy did it, lol. The #1 villain in MMA history. Easy.#UFC225
— Drake Riggs (@DrakeRiggs_) June 10, 2018
Joe is just trying not to say anything that will offend Colby. Doesn't want to get slapped. #UFC225
— Tom Taylor (@TomTayMMA) June 10, 2018
With his win over Rafael dos Anjos, Colby Covington set up a title-unifying showdown with undisputed UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, which he hopes will happen sometime this summer. That said, Covington’s immediate priority seems to be a trip to the White House for a meeting with President Donald Trump. The interim welterweight champion is now on a six-fight streak, having most recently defeated Jonathan Meunier, Max Griffin, Bryan Barberena, Dong Hyun Kim, Demian Maia and now dos Anjos. He owns an overall record of 14-1.
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 6/10/2018.