Colby Covington has shed light on his decision to step away from the UFC, a move that has sparked considerable fan interest. His final UFC appearance was a TKO loss due to a doctor’s stoppage against Joaquin Buckley in 2024. While Covington had expressed ambitions for a White House card in 2026 and even hinted at a middleweight debut, these plans did not materialize. Speculation also arose about a potential matchup with Mike Malott, which ultimately did not come to fruition despite Malott’s victory over Gilbert Burns.
Many observers attributed Covington’s exit to a strained relationship with UFC management and a perceived lack of fight opportunities. However, Covington himself asserts that this is not the case.
In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Covington revealed that his retirement from the UFC was a strategic step to fully commit to professional wrestling. He has already secured victories in the Real American Freestyle (RAF) promotion, defeating Luke Rockhold and Dillon Danis, and is slated to compete against Chris Weidman this weekend.
Covington’s desire to face fellow UFC fighters like Arman Tsarukyan in the RAF circuit was a primary driver for his decision. Since active UFC athletes are typically restricted from competing against each other outside the promotion, Covington chose to retire to enable these high-profile wrestling matchups.
He explained to Helwani, “This is the next step in my combat sports career: to join wrestling full-time. This was just the proverbial red tape that needed to be handled to clear up the biggest and best matches in RAF. Now there are no limitations on who I can wrestle. I want to wrestle Arman, I want to wrestle [Khamzat], I want to wrestle Marty Usman — we have unfinished business.”
Covington also indicated that any potential return to mixed martial arts would be exclusively within the UFC banner. He stated, “I’ll always be a UFC fighter. If I come back to fight again, it will be in the UFC… I know I have a lot left in the tank. I know there’s a lot of good miles still left on the tread.”
Expressing gratitude towards Dana White and Hunter Campbell for their support, Covington conveyed that he doesn’t require elaborate retirement tributes. He added, “It was just a formality, and Hunter gave me his blessing. It’s all good. It’s all love… I didn’t need one of these crazy retirement packages, ‘Look at me and look at what I did.’ I didn’t need that… I’m just moving on to bigger and better things.”