{"id":280862,"date":"2018-07-17T07:33:07","date_gmt":"2018-07-17T14:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=280862"},"modified":"2018-07-17T07:33:07","modified_gmt":"2018-07-17T14:33:07","slug":"chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Chael Sonnen believes Colby Covington is reinventing MMA, expects other fighters to copy him"},"content":{"rendered":"

UFC interim welterweight champion Colby Covington is as polarizing as UFC fighters get. Whether you love him or hate him, however, you’re likely to tune into his fights<\/a>, which means his schtick is working.<\/p>\n

In the eyes of current Bellator star Chael Sonnen, one of MMA’s most legendary heels, we’re likely to see many fighters attempt to follow in Covington’s footsteps going forward \u2014 not just in terms of Covington’s bad guy gimmick, but in terms of his ceaseless self promotion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn many ways, he\u2019s going to reinvent the sport,\u201d Sonnen told Luke Thomas on\u00a0The MMA Hour<\/a> this week (transcribed by Jesse Holland for MMAMania<\/a>).\u00a0\u201cPeople are going to start copying him. He\u2019s the first guy to come out and go, \u2018Look, I\u2019m just looking to entertain you. If the UFC isn\u2019t going to bring me cameras, I\u2019ll hire my own production crew, I\u2019ll pay them, but I\u2019m going to get this content recorded and out to the masses.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Colby Covington last fought in June, when he defeated former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos via unanimous decision to capture the UFC interim welterweight belt. He can now look forward to a title unifying showdown with undisputed champ Tyron Woodley sometime later this year \u2014 perhaps in November in New York City.<\/a><\/p>\n

As Sonnen implies, Colby Covington’s bad guy act has worked very well. That said, the interim welterweight champion recently divulged that he might turn face<\/a> ahead of his fight with Woodley, just so the fans have somebody to root for.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one cares about Woodley,\u201d Covington said on the latest episode of BJPENN.COM Radio<\/a>. \u201cPeople say they don\u2019t like his fight style \u2019cause he is the human form of NyQuil, and that\u2019s why we call him Ty-Quil. And no one wants to watch him fight. He\u2019s not a draw, he\u2019s boring. So don\u2019t worry, I\u2019m gonna relieve him as the most boring fighter of all time, and send him to the retirement home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAbsolutely, this is probably gonna be the fight where I come out as the babyface, \u2019cause just look at Tyron Woodley. He makes a fool of himself anytime he opens his mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you think we’ll start seeing fighters attempting to emulate Colby Covington?<\/p>\n

This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i>BJPenn.com<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0on 7\/17\/2018. <\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UFC interim welterweight champion Colby Covington is as polarizing as UFC fighters get. Whether you love him or hate him, however, you’re likely to tune into his fights, which means his schtick is working. In the eyes of current Bellator star Chael Sonnen, one of MMA’s most legendary heels, we’re likely to see many fighters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":271452,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10104,22188],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nChael Sonnen believes Colby Covington is reinventing MMA, expects other fighters to copy him | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Current Bellator heavyweight star Chael Sonnen believes more and more fighters are going to star emulating Colby Covington going forward.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chael Sonnen believes Colby Covington is reinventing MMA, expects other fighters to copy him | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Current Bellator heavyweight star Chael Sonnen believes more and more fighters are going to star emulating Colby Covington going forward.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-17T14:33:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Colby-Covington.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\"},\"headline\":\"Chael Sonnen believes Colby Covington is reinventing MMA, expects other fighters to copy him\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-17T14:33:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-07-17T14:33:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/\"},\"wordCount\":404,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Chael Sonnen\",\"Colby Covington\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2018\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/\",\"name\":\"Chael Sonnen believes Colby Covington is reinventing MMA, expects other fighters to copy him | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-17T14:33:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-07-17T14:33:07+00:00\",\"description\":\"Current Bellator heavyweight star Chael Sonnen believes more and more fighters are going to star emulating Colby Covington going forward.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Chael Sonnen\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Chael Sonnen believes Colby Covington is reinventing MMA, expects other fighters to copy him\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":148,\"caption\":\"| BJPenn.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\",\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"description\":\"Tom Taylor is a globetrotting writer currently based in Ottawa, Canada. He is a staff writer for BJPenn.com, and also covers mixed martial arts for Fightland and Vice Sports. Follow him on Twitter @TomTayMMA.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/tom-taylor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chael Sonnen believes Colby Covington is reinventing MMA, expects other fighters to copy him | BJPenn.com","description":"Current Bellator heavyweight star Chael Sonnen believes more and more fighters are going to star emulating Colby Covington going forward.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Chael Sonnen believes Colby Covington is reinventing MMA, expects other fighters to copy him | BJPenn.com","og_description":"Current Bellator heavyweight star Chael Sonnen believes more and more fighters are going to star emulating Colby Covington going forward.","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/","og_site_name":"| BJPenn.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","article_published_time":"2018-07-17T14:33:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":399,"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Colby-Covington.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Tom Taylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_site":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tom Taylor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/"},"author":{"name":"Tom Taylor","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87"},"headline":"Chael Sonnen believes Colby Covington is reinventing MMA, expects other fighters to copy him","datePublished":"2018-07-17T14:33:07+00:00","dateModified":"2018-07-17T14:33:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/"},"wordCount":404,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Chael Sonnen","Colby Covington"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2018","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/","name":"Chael Sonnen believes Colby Covington is reinventing MMA, expects other fighters to copy him | BJPenn.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-07-17T14:33:07+00:00","dateModified":"2018-07-17T14:33:07+00:00","description":"Current Bellator heavyweight star Chael Sonnen believes more and more fighters are going to star emulating Colby Covington going forward.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-believes-colby-covington-is-reinventing-mma-expects-other-fighters-to-copy-him\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MMA News","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Chael Sonnen","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Chael Sonnen believes Colby Covington is reinventing MMA, expects other fighters to copy him"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","name":"| BJPenn.com","description":"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization","name":"| BJPenn.com","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","width":600,"height":148,"caption":"| BJPenn.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87","name":"Tom Taylor","description":"Tom Taylor is a globetrotting writer currently based in Ottawa, Canada. He is a staff writer for BJPenn.com, and also covers mixed martial arts for Fightland and Vice Sports. Follow him on Twitter @TomTayMMA.","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/tom-taylor\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280862"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54430"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}