Colby Covington’s fighting nickname is “Chaos,” and it’s fitting for the former interim champion who once again find himself beefing with the UFC brass.

Covington was expected to challenge welterweight champion Kamaru Usman for the title as the main event of UFC 244 this November but those plans fell through when the UFC couldn’t get the bout signed. Instead, the UFC pivoted to having Nate Diaz vs. Jorge Masvidal for the “BMF” title serve as the main event for UFC 244, with negotiations stalled between Usman and Covington and now “Chaos” is back in the UFC’s bad graces.

Or perhaps more fittingly, the UFC is back in Covington’s bad graces as the interim champion doubled down on his statement that the UFC uses “hostage negotiations” to try and get deals done, telling BJPenn.com that what the UFC does is keep fighters poor so they have to take whatever crumbs the UFC doles out.

“That’s how UFC does business, they do the bully tactics,” Covington said. “They do the slave labor negotiations. It’s sick man. They don’t want to pay any of the fighters because they want everybody to be poor, so they keep back coming back and fighting all the time, and fighting six times a year.”

This is not the first time Covington has been at odds with the UFC, in fact, this is become old hat. Every time Covington appears to be in line for a title shot, the plans fall through and Covington is once again beefing with Dana White and company. The last time this happened, Kamaru Usman leapfrogged Covington for a title shot against Tyron Woodley, and Covington threatened to sue the UFC. Eventually things cooled down between the two and Covington went on to take a fight with Robbie Lawler but Covington now says that he realizes even accepting that fight was a mistake because the UFC is never going to repay the favors he’s done for them. Instead they’re gonna keep the lion’s share of the money and let everyone else squabble over the scraps.

“They said, ‘Oh, show up for the Robbie Lawler fight,’” Covington said. “And needless to say, Robbie was training for 12 weeks for that fight. He was getting ready for [Tyron] Woodley. . . So I showed up on four weeks’ notice, without a training camp because I got a nasty cut from a head butt in the first week in training camp. I couldn’t even train. Pretty much had to run on the treadmill every day, that’s it. That’s not training timing, accuracy, all that. So I showed up with no camp, to save the UFC, to save the main event, to bring the First Family, to get the President Tweeting about the UFC. To get all the troops all over the world watching in their bases because I’m America’s and the troops’ favorite fighter [and] the UFC still doesn’t do good for me. I make them millions and millions and they just continue to just pocket all that money, and they don’t want to pay me a fraction — not even five percent of any of that money. It’s ridiculous how they can pocket 95, 98 percent and not give the fighters anymore than the two or three percent.”

Covington previously stated that the UFC offered him their standard challenger rate to face Usman, despite the fact that he previously held an interim title, and the negotiations fell apart when the UFC would not budge on that number. And while previously he may have been willing to accept terms like these or future promises, Covington says now he’s been burned too many times to trust anything the UFC says.

“The UFC always makes promises, they’ve made me so many promises,” Covington said. “[They say] ‘Oh, do this and we’ll give you a favor here. We’ll throw you a bone next time.’ They never end up throwing that bone back, man. They just use you even more next time. So it’s just… I’m not going to be played for a fool anymore, man. They want to do business like that, then they’re not going to get any business. That’s that.”

Looks like we might be getting another Dana White ambush soon.

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VIDEO STEW

Yair Rodriguez interview.

Anatomy of UFC 242: The Movie.

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Chael compares Gaethjesus to Hendo and I’ve never thought about it but there’s something there.

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LISTEN UP

Eurobash. Interviews with Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Paul Felder.

Mookie & Crookie. Discussing UFC Vancouver and Tyson Fury vs. Otto Wallin.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Beef.

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The Ilimanator.

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Beef?

OUCH.

Amanda Serrano coming to MMA.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Keri Taylor Melendez (3-0) vs. Many Polk (6-4); Bellator 229, Oct.4.

Jai Herbert (9-1) vs. Cain Carrizosa (11-3); Cage Warriors 109, Oct. 26.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Thanks for reading and see y’all tomorrow.

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EXIT POLL

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