Former interim welterweight champion Colby Covington was in Las Vegas for last weekend’s UFC 235 card, and he certainly made his presence known. All through Fight Week, the polarizing welterweight star was stirring up drama with figures like Kamaru Usman and Dana White. And apparently, he nearly fought LA Rams running back Todd Gurley in the crowd on Fight Night.
Colby Covington detailed this run-in with with the NFL star on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on Monday.
“A bunch of fans were like ‘that’s Todd Gurley!’ I was sitting front row with my security guards,” Covington explained. “Four rows down, my security and a bunch of fans were like ‘oh that’s Todd Gurley and his crew.’ They were heckling me, talking shit, saying some things [like] ‘oh we’re going to fuck you up Colby!’ That’s why I had 10 cops right in front of me, right outside the cage, cause they were making sure nothing went down in the crowd.”
It was the prevalence of issues like this in the crowd that prompted UFC President Dana White to speak with Colby Covington and promise him the next crack at the welterweight title mid-way through the UFC 235 event.
“There was a lot of ruckus going on over there in [Covington’s] area,” White stated post-fight. “He almost got into it with mama Woodley at one point and everything else. That was like the third time I’d gone over to him that night.
“So I just told him, ‘Listen, you’re going to get this title shot. Don’t f*ck this up. Just relax. You and all your guys relax. If anything goes down, let our people handle it, and we’re going to take you in the back in a little while here and do some interviews.’ That’s all I said to him.”
Are you surprised to hear Colby Covington was being heckled by an NFL player at UFC 235?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 3/5/2019.