If there was any doubt about who the real “King of Cringe” is in MMA, Colby Covington reminded fans Wednesday that he still holds that title.
Covington, who headlines UFC on ESPN 63 against Joaquin Buckley on Saturday, attended a media day for the first time since losing his third undisputed title fight almost one year ago, and right off the bat, he attacked NBA star LeBron James.
Why? Because back in September, a video from four years ago of James and disgraced hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs resurfaced in which James says “ain’t no party like a Diddy party.’ The clip from an Instagram Live stream resurfaced shortly after Combs was indicted and arrested on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges. Combs is currently in jail awaiting a trial after a plethora of women alleged he sexually abused them, including at his now-infamous “white parties.”
Armed with that information, No. 1 Donald Trump supporter Covington, who’s gone after James in the past for his left-leaning political views and stance against police brutality, opened his UFC on ESPN 63 media day by going after him once again.
“I’m gonna start this off since I’m the man of the hour, the man of the show,” Covington told MMA Junkie and other reporters without a question being asked. “I want to ask LeBron: What does he mean by ‘there’s no party like a Diddy party’? I truly want to know. And not only that, LeBron, how many Diddy parties have you actually been to? I’m really curious to know. Is that the reason you left social media? Because all the backlash you were getting for going to so many Diddy parties? It’s just pathetic, man.
“People think this guy is a role model. He wants to defund the police, the most patriotic people in America serving and protecting our country. Lebron, you’re a f*cking scumbag, and I hope you get locked up in the same cell with Diddy.”
This was only the beginning.
For the next 20-plus minutes, Covington rambled about Shavkat Rakhmonov, Khamzat Chimaev, Ian Machado Garry, and made even more salacious remarks about Machado Garry’s wife. To Covington’s credit, he did speak mostly respectfully of his opponent, Buckley, when discussing Saturday’s headliner.
Perhaps the cringe-worthiest of Covington’s diatribes came at the end, when he was asked what he thought of Jon Jones’ performance in his UFC 309 victory over Stipe Miocic to retain his heavyweight title. Rather than answer the question, Covington used it as an opportunity to go down an unexpected road regarding his former college roommate.
“Jon has some fruity tendencies. I think the media needs to look into some of the fruity things that he does. It’s very strange,” Covington said. “But I can tell you that I know he has been with some women, because I remember in college he always used to get the fattest girls in the school. I’m talking 300 pounds-plus. Dude, he knows deep down inside, this is not a joke. He knows deep down inside, like, I know his dark, hidden secrets that are in his closet. He’s been with some of the fattest, 300-pound slobs. It’s disgusting. Dude, Jon Jones is an absolute f*cking disgrace to this earth. He’s a f*cking joke.”
Then Covington got to addressing the question before finishing off with one more tangent as he took a shot at Jones for his 2021 arrest for allegedly assaulting his fiancee in a Las Vegas hotel room.
“Yeah, he beat Stipe,” he continued. “Respect to Stipe first off because he’s a first responder and he puts his life on the line for the people and for his community. So shout out to Stipe, the greatest heavyweight of all time, but he was past his time. He shouldn’t have even been there, man. He knows he was old. He was just showing up for a paycheck. That’s not the Stipe of old that was in his prime anymore. I don’t think anything special of that performance.
“I think Jon needs to stop ducking Tom Aspinall, just like he ducked Ngannou. He ducked Ngannou a few years ago, now he’s ducking Aspinall. He doesn’t want to fight the guys he knows he’s gonna get his ass whooped against, so I don’t think anything special of Jon Jones.
“He’s a f*cking coward, he’s a cheat, and he’s a woman beater. He needs to stop beating his wife and leaving her bloody in Las Vegas hotel rooms.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 63.
