Colby Covington doubles down on BLM comments, insists nothing said by him was "racist"

UFC Welterweight fighter Colby Covington caused quite a stir on social media for his controversial comments on the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement. Covington labelled the BLM movement a "sham" and even criticised the athletes supporting the movement for being "spineless cowards." Despite the mass social media outrage against Covington's comments, the 32-year-old believes nothing he said was "racist."

Since his controversial statement after his dominating win over Tyron Woodley at UFC Fight Night 178, Covington has been relatively silent. His first response to the backlash came via Instagram where he claimed he speaks for the "Silent Majority" and that he'll "never back down" amid the social media hate. 

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Earlier this week, Covington addressed the outrage for the first time in-person while speaking to Submission Radio. Responding to the charges of racism against him, Covington insisted his comments post UFC Fight Night 178 were not "racist." "There’s nothing that I said that was racist and there’s nothing I did that was racist – end of the story,” he told the host.

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The 32-year-old sparked major controversy for his comments last month. He branded the Black Lives Matter movement a "sham," stating the movement is simply defending criminals.

"You know, these aren’t people that are hard-working Americans. Blue-collar Americans. These are bad people. They are criminals, you know, and they shouldn’t be attacking police. You know if you are breaking the law and you are threatening the cops with weapons. You know, you deserve to get what you get. Law enforcement protects us all. If you don’t have law enforcement it would be the wild wild west."

He even took shots at the athletes publicly supporting the BLM Movement. Name-dropping Lakers' LeBron James during the interview, Covington called them "woke athletes" who were being "spineless cowards."

The 32-year-old then went onto call Tyron Woodley a communist for supporting the BLM movement. "You know he (Tyron Woodley) is a communist. You know, he’s a Marxist. He stands for criminals. He hates America, and that’s why he got broke tonight," he said during a backstage interview.

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Colby Covington and LeBron James: A personal feud

Covington's statements instigated a personal feud between him and LeBron James. The 35-year-old NBA star responded to Covington's stating, "Anybody can talk from outside but if they got into the ring or got into the arena, probably 10 times out of 10, they’d sh*t their pants."

The UFC fighter fired back via an Instagram post where he called LeBron James a coward and claimed the Lakers superstar won't even last 10 seconds with him. Covington even took shots at LeBron's mother, Gloria James, over her alleged affair with Delonte West.

 

Also Read | Colby Covington “would Tear LeBron James” If They Fight In UFC, Claims Darren Till

(Image Credits: Colby Covington Instagram)