Colby Covington was a controversial figure during his UFC
tenure. | Getty/UFC
Colby
Covington appears to be calling it a career — at least in
MMA.
Multiple outlets confirmed that “Chaos” has informed the
UFC of his retirement after the promotion listed the former
welterweight title challenger as “retired” on its official website. Social media account UFC Roster Tracker was first to bring word that
Covington was no longer part of the UFC roster.
Covington hasn’t competed in MMA since December 2024, when he
suffered a third-round TKO defeat to Joaquin
Buckley at UFC on ESPN 63. The 38-year-old Springfield, Oregon,
native lobbied hard for a spot on the
UFC White House but was ultimately not included in the June 14
event. After the fight card was announced, Covington admitted that
his relationship with the UFC had gone downhill in recent months
and claimed that fighters typically have “no say” in negotiations.
Shifting Focus
Covington has maintained an active schedule for wrestling
organization Real American Freestyle thus far in 2026. After
earning victories over Luke
Rockhold and Dillon
Danis earlier this year, Covington is slated to wrestle
Chris
Weidman at RAF 9 on May 30. In a recent interview, the former
junior college national champion at Iowa Central Community College
admitted that he was
primarily focused on competing for RAF going forward.
Covington won 10 of his first 11 fights in the UFC, capturing the
interim welterweight strap in the process. While he was successful
in the Octagon, his polarizing persona in interviews and on social
media helped him garner more attention — though not all of it put
him in a positive light. Still, Covington received three shots at
undisputed 170-pound gold, falling to Kamaru
Usman (twice) and most recently, Leon
Edwards in December 2023. Even as he was largely inactive in
recent months, Covington remained a popular callout target for many
fighters in the UFC. Covington finished his UFC tenure with a 12-5
mark, losing four of his last six appearances.