Colby Covington Rants on Being ‘Iced Out’ By UFC, Reveals Timeline for Company Exit

Colby Covington is continuing to speak out against the UFC. After getting passed over for a spot on the UFC White House card earlier this month despite months of publicly campaigning for inclusion, Covington went on record saying the promotion had treated him “like s***.”

During a recent appearance with popular streamer N3on, he elaborated on what he sees as a pattern of mistreatment toward UFC fighters. Covington described a power dynamic within the UFC that leaves fighters with little leverage.

“You have no say,” he said. “Hunter Campbell, who is like the UFC lawyer, he kind of just tells you what direction they’re going to go, and it’s either you take it or leave it. So, you don’t really get a choice what you want to do. They just leave you. They ice you. They won’t give you fights. They’ll just let you sit out there. They’ll say, ‘Hey, you turned down this fight, now you’re not going to fight for the year.

“You’re not going to make money.’ They’ll freeze you out. Even if it’s not a good move, and you’re not getting paid what you think you deserve, it doesn’t matter. They say, ‘You either accept it and be a company man, or we’ll just ice you, and you don’t get a fight to make money,” he added.

Covington suggested earlier this month that this dynamic is precisely what has been happening in his own situation, which helps explain why he has not competed in 15 months. At 38 years old, an extended layoff carries real consequences. Time is not a resource a fighter at his stage of career can easily absorb.

Colby Covington leaving UFC in 2027?

“So, for UFC, I think, probably in the next year or so, I’m going to be done with it, because you don’t want to take too many shots to the head when you’re later in age,” Covington said.

“And my body is slowing down; my metabolism doesn’t recover like it used to. So, when I train two or three times, I don’t recover as I used to in my 20s,” he added. “So, I see myself done in the next year or so. But wrestling, I know I can do for another six, seven, eight years, because it’s low-impact.”

Covington, a former NCAA All-American, recently made his Real American Freestyle debut in January, defeating Luke Rockhold. He is now set to face Dillon Danis at RAF 7 next week, giving him a competitive avenue that does not carry the same physical demands as MMA.

Still, Covington has not entirely closed the door on the UFC. He made clear that if the right opportunity materialized, he would be interested — but the operative word is right. “I want big names,” he said. “I want something that gets me excited to get out of bed. They’re talking about fighting nobodies or no-names that do nothing for me. I would just be fighting for money. I don’t want to just fight for money. I want to fight for legacy.”