COVINGTON AT
HIS HOME IN
THURSTON
PHOTO BY TODD COOPER
These are the fans who try to act like a booker or pretend
that they know what it takes to win a fight, Covington adds.
In other words, they’re armchair fighters — just like an
armchair quarterback.
He started calling out UFC fighters, posting spoilers on
Twitter for Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Avengers: Infinity
War and continuing a heated relationship with Brazil
(during a UFC event in Brazil, people threw trash and
booed him and he shot back calling them “filthy animals”).
He’s attacked the mainstream sports world when he called
the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers, who were
then battling it out in the NBA Finals, a “bunch of losers” for
not wanting to bring the championship to the White House.
The strategy is effective.
I missed his June championship fight, but I watched as
UFC fans reacted on Twitter. Just like any great professional
wrestling heel, the fans still expressed hatred for him, but
they knew he was a fighter who could hold his own.
It sounds rough, but Covington says the UFC business
is all about selling out pay-per-view events, and he’s just
trying to sell himself to a larger audience — whether
it’s liberals who want to see him get knocked out or
conservatives who want to see their guy win.
His methods seem to offend some people. But he’s not
trying to be a bully. It’s just business.
“I’m getting locked up in a steel cage and the goal
is to take the other guy’s brain cells,” Covington says.
“[UFC fans] want blood from me. They want to see me get
knocked unconscious.”
MR. COVINGTON GOES
TO WASHINGTON
Covington wasn’t planning on parading his belt around
when he was in Oregon. Sure, he had a few visits to make,
but the visit he looked forward to the most was waiting on
the UFC. He couldn’t wait to bring it to Trump.
“You go to the White House and be a proud American,”
he tells Eugene Weekly. “Doesn’t matter what side of the
political race I’m on. I’m proud to be American — red,
white and blue.”
He adds: “I fight for 541, Oregon and, more importantly,
number one is the troops.”
Bringing the belt to the Washington, D.C. is a pretty big
achievement, considering it wasn’t long since Sen. John
McCain called UFC “human cockfighting” and wanted to
outlaw the combat sport.
But, Covington adds, he would’ve done the same if
Hillary Clinton were in the White House.
He brought the championship belt on July 30, to a live
taping of RAW, WWE’s weekly Monday night television
show. He was originally going to be front row for the show,
but his old teammate and current WWE superstar Bobby
Lashley invited him backstage.
While there, Covington took a photo with former UFC
champion Ronda Rousey — who’s now been taking the
professional wrestling world by storm — and former
WWE champion Jinder Mahal.
A few days afterwards, on Aug. 2, with the help of UFC
President Dana White, Covington finally brought the belt to
Trump — and the White House bumped him in front of the
Washington Capitals, who won the Stanley Cup this year.
Thanks to the UFC, the world now has a photo of Trump
with a large gold-faced championship belt slung over his left
shoulder while giving thumbs up in the Oval Office. All of
this is happening as Thomas Jefferson looks down from the
wall and the bust of Abraham Lincoln stares at the floor.
Covington shared the photo on Twitter and echoed
Trump’s campaign slogan: “Promises Made. Promises
Kept” and threw in a #MAGA.
“Best day of my life, hanging with the president
cracking jokes in the Oval Office,” he told me in a direct
message on Twitter.
Covington also shared some of the conversation he and
Trump had on Twitter: Trump kept calling him “champ.” Af-
ter Trump posed with Covington, he gave him back the belt.
“No, Mr. President. This belt’s for you. You’re the
champion of the people,” the Tweet said.
Covington told EW that it was lot of fun kicking it with
Trump, adding that he’s just “a regular guy.”
“It was like hanging out with a friend,” he says. “Trump
gets a lot of criticism. He loves this country. He’s trying to
make this country great again."
But the story gets more complicated, as UFC decided
whether or not to strip Covington of the belt — the title he
took to WWE and gave a replica of to Trump — since he
would need time off to rest from surgery.
“Fake news,” he told me in a direct message on Twitter.
He went on to say it wasn’t in his best interest to fight in
two title matches in three months.
“They trying to scare me but it ain’t gonna work, ’cause
take my belt I’m still here and not going anyway anytime
soon,” he adds.
Before Covington attended a WWE event and met
Trump in August, MMA news outlets began to report that
Covington needed nasal surgery in late July.
Then, the weekend before his WWE appearance and
meeting with Trump, UFC President Dana White made the
decision to strip Covington of the interim belt because he was
unable to fight Woodley — the UFC recognized champion.
White added that the interim belt just means Covington
is actually the number-one contender and that he would get
the chance to fight for the belt.
Meltzer tells EW he couldn’t believe they would strip
someone of the belt, and then have them go on to meet with
WWE superstars and pose with Trump in the White House.
Covington still denied it the last time I talked to him.
“I didn’t get stripped of shit — that’s fake news,” he says.
Stevie Richards, who helped Covington work an
audience like a professional wrestler, says the belt-
stripping debacle is a great opportunity to grow beyond the
organization. In fact, it could be possible to see Covington
become someone like Conor McGregor — a brash-talking
Scottish MMA fighter who’s grown into a media icon and
international personality.
If his star power expands to McGregor’s level, Eugene
could see itself benefit. Covington says he hopes to have UFC
hold an event in Eugene, and that the UFC is listening to him.
The only thing that would hold that back would be the
University of Oregon — who controls the largest stadium:
Matthew Knight Arena.
Because that’s why Covington fights. That’s why he
brought Trump the championship belt. That’s why he does
#NerdBash2018. He does it for business, so he can then
give back. ■
eugeneweekly.com • A ugust 16, 2018
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