Colby Covington explains his decision to retire from UFC, says it's '50-50' whether he ever fights again
· Yahoo Sports
Colby Covington recently informed the UFC that he is sailing off into the sunset and retiring from MMA. Going forward, it’s back to his wrestling roots for one of the welterweight division’s most visible grapplers of the past decade.
Covington, 38, slowed down his MMA activity starting in 2020 after losing his first undisputed UFC title shot against Kamaru Usman via fifth-round knockout. Covington only fought once per calendar year in each year that followed, excluding 2025 when he didn’t fight at all. Yet in 2026, he’s already competed twice for Real American Freestyle (RAF), with a third wrestling match coming against Chris Weidman this Saturday, May 30.
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Speaking Wednesday on “The Ariel Helwani Show” in his first post-UFC interview, Covington (17-5) explained his reason for leaving MMA behind, noting that he’s still on good terms with the UFC and had a good final meeting with UFC CBO Hunter Campbell.
"This is the next step in my combat sports career — to join wrestling full-time. My first true love and passion,” Covington told Uncrowned.
"I started wrestling when I was in diapers, and I was a little kid and it was family business to go into the wrestling world. So now we can get back to doing what I love the most, which is wrestling. It's amazing what Chad Bronstein has done with Real American Freestyle, and [retiring from UFC] was just the proverbial red tape that needed to be done to be able to clear up the biggest and best matches in RAF, so there's no limitations to who I can wrestle. I want to wrestle everybody. I want to wrestle Arman [Tsarukyan], I want to wrestle [Khamzat Chimaev]. I want to wrestle 'Marty' Usman — we have unfinished business, we need to finish this trilogy.
"I want to wrestle all these UFC guys, but I can't get too ahead of myself. This weekend, I have a tough competitor in front of me with Chris Weidman. But it was just a formality, and Hunter gave me his blessing, and it's all good. It's all love. ... I'm moving onto bigger and better things."
Covington’s retirement from the UFC goes down as one of the quieter ones in recent MMA history, despite the brash, outspoken welterweight’s nature. Covington said Wednesday that he didn’t need a “crazy retirement package,” as the UFC has produced for numerous longtime veterans and legends upon their exits over the years.
Ultimately, Covington simply didn’t see a route to maximize his wrestling potential while still “active” as a UFC fighter. That doesn’t mean he’s fully closed the door on fighting again. But if he does, it will remain in the Octagon, where he’s fought in since 2014.
"I wasn't let go. I'm still a UFC fighter. I'll always be a UFC fighter,” Covington said. “If I come back to fight again, it will be in the UFC. I'm still under contract with the UFC. All is still good with the UFC. I'm thankful for everything they did for me.
"It's 50-50 [if I fight MMA again.] I know I have a lot left in the tank. I know there's a lot of good miles still left on the tread, but I don't know. I can't predict the future. Only God knows, so I trust God's plan. “
Covington may have ended his UFC run on a downward skid, losing back-to-back bouts against Leon Edwards and Joaquin Buckley, however it’s a different story in RAF. Covington holds wins over former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold and Bellator veteran Dillon Danis for RAF heading into his Weidman showdown.
Wrestling has been Covington’s bread and butter throughout his athletic life, so this full transition back into the sport should come as no surprise. He’s so passionate about the new endeavor that he even invested in RAF personally, he said.
"This is my calling,” Covington said. “If they would’ve had a platform like this with Real American Freestyle [when I first got out of college], I never would have been in the UFC. So seeing Chad Bronstein, seeing Izzy Martinez, Eric Bischoff, the vision that they've created in reality, I mean, you've got to think about it — wrestling is one of the oldest sports of all time. It never had popularity like it does now. Now, we're on Fox Nation, one of the biggest platforms in the world. We're headlining shows here in Dallas this weekend. We'll be in Milwaukee. We'll be in St Louis. We'll be in Cleveland, we'll be in Ohio.
"When I first heard about it from Chad and Hulk Hogan — when Hulk Hogan walked me out for my last [UFC] fight — I loved it. I loved the vision that they had for freestyle wrestling and making it the mecca. And then, when I got to see it firsthand, when I competed against Luke Rockhold in Sunrise, Florida, I got to see the electricity of the crowd. I got to see the fan engagement, the kids, the families, all the people that came out to support this great sport. And I was all-in. I told him right away, I wanted to invest my hard-earned money and I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to help lead the future so wrestlers can have a platform to make money and supplement their income in life.
"Now I'm a part of the company and I just I truly believe in what Chad and Eric are doing, and I'm just so thankful to be a part of it."
With the Weidman match set for 200 pounds, Covington highlighted that it’ll be the literal biggest of his career.
RAF 9 goes down inside the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas.