Colby Covington says that cancelling UFC events was not “the right move”

Former interim UFC welterweight champion Colby Covington believes that the recent cancellations of UFC events were the wrong move by the company.

UFC president Dana White recently sent out an email, which announced that the next 3 UFC events (London, Colombus and Portland) are cancelled until further notice.

The reason for these cancellations is the growing concern over the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Last weekend’s UFC Brasilia event was converted to a closed-door event last-minute, not permitting any fans in attendance.

Now, the company has been forced to take extra precautions, cancelling their next 3 scheduled events in the process. Colby Covington disagrees with this decision, calling people’s reaction to the virus “irrational”.

He recently spoke with MMA Fighting and this is what he had to say:

”I don’t think it was the right move,” Covington said. “I think we’re healthy, young professional athletes. We already do something that’s dangerous enough as it is, getting locked into an octagon and fighting each other, so what’s more dangerous than a little flu that’s going on right now? I think people just need to be more aware of what’s going on, wash their hands, social distancing, this and that. But as professional athletes, we already risk enough as it is.

”I had a fan reach out to me from China, and they were like, ‘We just had to stay in our houses for 30 days, pretty much quarantined, and after that, there haven’t been any new cases for over one month, and everything’s under control,’” Covington added. “I think everybody’s kind of panicking and acting irrationally, and we just need to realize that everything’s under control, and America, the greatest country in the world, is going to be OK, and things will go back to normal.”

After UFC London was cancelled, Colby Covington said that he would fill in for Leon Edwards and fight the former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley on short notice this weekend.

The fight never materialised in the end and Covington had the following to say about the situation:

”Both sides were agreeing,” Covington said “Tyron Woodley’s never accepted a fight with me. For the first time ever, he’s finally agreed to fight me, and it was about to happen for the people, and all of a sudden, the plug got pulled, and they couldn’t find anywhere to do the fight.”

When asked about his plans for the future now that the Woodley fight did not happen, Covington seems to have his sights set on a rematch against UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman:

”That definitely takes priority over Woodley,” he said.

Covington challenged Usman for the UFC welterweight title in his last fight at UFC 245. After a strong performance in the early rounds, Covington was put away by Usman in the 5th-round via punches.

This article first appeared on CLOSEDGUARDMEDIA.com on 17th March, 2020.