The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Daniel Cormier Show - Colby Covington on White House card, Kamaru Usman & Jorge Masvidal, UFC VILLAN

Episode Date: April 16, 2026

Colby Covington officially makes his DEBUT on the Daniel Cormier SHOW! Colby goes in on being left off the White House card, and details his rivalries between him and UFC superstars Jorge Masvidal and Kamaru Usman. Covington also discusses his time in collegiate wrestling and how he became one of the best wrestlers in the country. Colby then reveals to DC that he was roommates with Jon Jones in college and talks about how it was to live with him. And don't miss Covington's thoughts on the White House card, President Donald Trump, the Justin Gaethje and Ilia Topuria fight, and so much more! #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. The volume. All right, guys, welcome back to the Daniel Cormié show. Today's episode is brought to you by Total Wireless, the official wireless provider of UFC. Hey, they're in your corner with unlimited 5G data that will not slow you down. Now that's a total power move. Today, I am joined by one of the most polarizing figures in all the mixed martial arts. Hey, he's a former interim champion, a guy who's been in some of the biggest fights, the Walterweight Division has ever seen.

and it's someone who has never been afraid to speak his mind. So whether you love him or you hate him, you always get Kobe Covington. And when you talk about rivalries in this sport, his name's right up there. He had wars with Kamar Usmann, personal rivalry with George Mazvedal, in a career that's been as much about moments as it has been about his results. But now we're at a different point. He's coming off for some tough losses. So questions about what's next and whether he still wants to chase that belt.

Or maybe the game's changed for Kobe. We'll find out today. we'll get into all of it. His career, the rivalries, the persona, the reality of where he stands right now. Today, I am joined by the one and only. Colby Chaos Covington, Colby. Thank you, my man, for joining me.

I appreciate it. Hey, you know when I come to Miami, I had to kind of tap in with you, I was like, man, if I'm in Miami, let me hit Kobe up, man. Thanks for doing this. It's a beautiful place. It's a beautiful place.

Beautiful city, man. It always good climate here. You know, the weather's good. So, you know, you can have that active lifestyle like we like to have. You know, we like to stay active and, you know, compete in many different sports. I know you're a big avid golfer, so it's a great state to live.

Yeah, I'm playing on Friday. I'm playing on Friday. I'm playing out there on Friday. I'm playing at a, it's a beautiful place. Turnberry Isles, yeah. Yeah, Turnberry Isles, yeah. That's the thing, though, man. Once you get to a certain point in your life,

you want to be at somewhere nice. You know, I want to be on a nice course, not just some random course. We're going to get into your childhood a little bit. We're going to get into Code. Covington versus the gimmick. I think a lot of people miss who you really are. But my first question is, like, how much of what people see is you versus what you want them to see? You know, I think a majority of it, it's me, you know? It's, you know, I understood what the assignment was being called and asked upon me in the UFC, you know, like, you need to generate hype. You need to get

people interested to want to watch you fight. You know, I don't want them to turn the channel to real housewives of Miami. want them to stay tuned on Colby Coventon, DC, and the UFC. You know, that was important. So I just understood what the assignment was. And, you know, I just, I stopped caring what people thought of me. For a long time, I kind of cared what people thought of me. But then I was like, you know what?

The real friends are going to, they're going to judge me for who I am and they know who I am behind the scenes. And when it's time to do business, you know, this is show business. You know, it's just as important to be a showman as it is to be a winner in the fight game. So, you know, some of these fighters that have made the biggest paychecks in the history of the sport, they weren't the greatest fighter. They weren't in the list of the greatest fighters of all time, but they generated crazy hype,

and that's how you make money in this sport? So how hard was it for you from a kid that's a wrestler? Because the one thing that we fear the most, when we leave wrestling and coming into MMA, is getting booed. That is literally like you, you lay at night going, man, there'll be a lot of people in there. I hope I don't get booed. How hard was it for you to kind of accept,

man, if I go down this path, there's going to be some booze. Yeah. You know, I felt it first when I went to Brazil. for my second UFC fight, and they were screaming, you by Moray, which means you will die and booing me. And I was like, it sucked. But like, after I was like, man, that kind of brought a different character and a different dog out of me that made me want to, like,

prove them wrong and shut them up. So, like, I started to enjoy the boo. I almost wanted to attract the booze more than I wanted the cheers. I didn't want people to like me. I wanted people to hate me, but I wanted them to tune in to see me get knocked out or lose. But I knew that I was going to work hard and that wasn't going to happen. You know, I remember I was with you and,

Damien Maya at Brazil. That was one of the craziest moments of all time. What do you think people misunderstand the most, right? Like what do you think people misunderstand to the point that people want to fight you on the streets and all the, what do you think is most misunderstood about Colby Covington? Just the, you know, people, you know, they don't know how to leave the business when it's, when it's the business, you know. You know, when we're in the UFC, it's promotion, it's hype.

It's selling yourself, you know, and trying to market yourself and promote yourself in different ways. People don't know how to turn that light switch off when it's time to be a regular human on the streets, you know? So I just think that people get so upset with the way I've handled and conducted my business that they can not let that resentment and that hate come out even when we're in real life and just being regular people, you know? They want to bring that with them like, oh, you said this at the press conference. You said, you know, some stupid shit, you know, and they just want to keep hating me over that, but, you know, I'm not here to tell these people I'm a good person, you know, that's up to them to decide. Yeah. Do you feel like good, right? Because at the

end of the day, I love professional wrestling. It's always been my thing. I'm going to WrestleMania very soon. Amazing. Your phone. Yeah, sorry. I should put up. Yeah, turn the mute off. I'm going to Russellmania very, very recently, are coming up. And the one thing they have to have is emotion. If you can draw an emotion, whether it's negative or whether it's positive, it makes you know that people are invested in you. I went through a part in my career where people just hated me. But then I realized, oh, my God, they're not indifferent.

They can't be indifferent. We see there are 700 people on the roster right now. 675 of them people have an indifferent type of approach to them and ultimately that doesn't lead to anything and I believe when people understand that it makes it much easier to operate in this world but then you have the nickname chaos right

Kobe chaos Covington in wrestling there's not much chaos when did that come to you chaos and is that a part of you is that another part of you that you said this is me in fighting chaos and I'm Colby on the other side. Yeah, you know, it's just, that's what I realized

that there has to be that light switch where you've got to become chaos, you've got to become, you know, that larger than life person, you know, if you want to really make it in this sport, in this career. And, you know, I think when the light switch really flipped, Daniel, you know, is when my buddy Bobby Lashley invited me to do a stint on T&A impact.

Yeah. And I went to do this stint for like two weeks and I just started seeing these guys shooting promos and like playing the heel, playing the good guy and like the baby face. And I was just like, oh, okay, I see what they're doing. Like, yeah, they're creating this character, so to speak, on the camera. But, like, off the camera, you know, they're just regular, gentle people.

So, you know, they're doing what they can to get people interested in to draw money in eyes to the sports. So, you know, I just, the light switch flipped, and I just didn't care who liked me and who was going to judge me. I just wanted to make money and get the biggest and best fights possible in the UFC. And you got that. And ultimately, it led to exactly what you wanted. You know, Kobe, we got to go back to the very beginning. you were born in Clovis, but you moved to Oregon, right, and lived there for a long, your whole childhood?

Yeah, my whole childhood pretty much was in Oregon. Yeah. I watched, as I'm doing my research on you, I see your dad wrestled, right? And he starts pushing you into this sport. But at a very young age, you thought, I want to be a fighter. I want to be a wrestler. But I came from bullying. Why is bullying such a big part of so many professionals?

professional fighters' lives, especially in their youth. I think because it just carries this anger and this frustration when you're a little kid and you got bullied that you don't ever want someone to be able to bully you and be able to out for you. You know, the anger and frustration you have as a kid, people bullying you picking on you, making you look stupid in front of the whole school or whole class, it just makes you want to rise up and train hard and never allow a man to be able to do that to you. So, you know, I just, you know, when I, I was a kid, I was a smaller side.

You know, I was 100 pounds soaking wet my freshman year in high school. Oh. So I was small, you know. Yeah, you were pushing me in, you were pushing me in lockers, giving me wedgies, like, pulling my underwear. Yeah, I swear. Really? Yeah. In Oregon?

In Oregon. And, like, even when I went to, like, high school wrestling practice, like, the seniors dragging me around the mat when they were cleaning the mat and, you know, they'd be, like, still water from the chemicals in the mat. Why? Just because I was, like, they knew they could pick on me. I was 100 pounds, you know, I was a little shrimp, you know? Everybody knew I was the easy target.

And I wasn't like that good at wrestling yet as a freshman. I didn't have any success. It was the JV. You know, it wasn't even the varsity athlete. And so, you know, I think getting picked on over and over, it made me want to train harder. I started practicing two, three times a day. I started eating my diet.

Everything I put in my body was about getting the most out of myself so I could be the best athlete possible. And I just started visualizing that one day, there would not be a man on earth that would be able to pick on me anymore. When you think back to those times, because that's something that I do, Right? Because I dealt with a lot of that myself. And I still remember the guy that would give me the hardest time.

But I think back to those moments, and I remember feeling almost... Wrestling was supposed to be like this safe space for you. Yeah. But then they could have almost ran you out of that. Was ever anxiety going back into the room like, I don't want to go to school today? This guy's going to, they're going to fuck with me. They're going to do shit to me. Was it ever that for you when you...

And can you even put yourself back into that when you're like a 14, 15-year-old kid? that mindset of that fear, right? Because we live now in life with no fear. Yeah. But imagine, like, go, do you ever think back then, go, man, I was really kind of like a little bit of a broken kid? Absolutely. I remember, you know, coming home from wrestling practice and just telling my mom, I don't

want to do it anymore, you know? I love the sport, but I don't want to be picked on anymore. You know, we see how the hazing is these days on the college campuses. It was almost worse back then. It was way worse. Yeah. Some of the stuff that was going on back then compared to now? Yeah.

50% of the guys that made it to the NFL or Olympic teams and all these things, they would have never gotten there because of all the shit they did behind the scenes. Yeah, and there was no repercussions. You know, it's completely different now. You know, you do things like this. You know, you're going to get the police called on you, and it's a big deal. So, you know, back then it was just, it was, it was kill or be killed, you know, and, you know, it was eat or don't eat, but it was just, it was a tough environment.

And I had no choice but to get tough. And I definitely wanted to quit many times My mom and dad said, no, you got to keep showing up And just, you know, just overcome it. You speak about your father, he wrestled, but you also talk about times where it's you and your mom and your sister. When did that, do you remember the transition

from California to Oregon to your parents not being together anymore? Do you remember that? I do. You know, I remember being, you know, in my diapers three, four years old and, you know, my dad wasn't around, you know. And, you know, I know he was off wrestling and trying to chase his dreams

and he was in college and he had some things going on. But, you know, it was my mom who had to shoulder the load to take care of me. She had to work three jobs. She called me the nukyberry because she was working in a nuclear power plant to put food on the table so we could have a roof over our head. And I just remember she was, you know, she was the only one that was in my life. She was my mom, my dad, and my provider. And, you know, it wasn't until I was seven years old

until my dad came into my life and was like, hey, we're going to, I want to get back together. I want to try and mend this family. and make it a happy family again and give you the best opportunity to succeed in life. And that's when he put wrestling on you? And that's when he put wrestling on me. And, you know, he was seeing the early UFC fights.

He's like, look at this Ken Tramrock, you know. The best wrestlers or the best fighters are the guys that wrestle that can take down the fight and control them and be able to dictate wherever the fight goes. So, you know, it was kind of him that gave me that idea, like, hey, become a good wrestler and you could become a good UFC fighter. You know what was very telling when you said you would come home from high school and still say, to your

mom, I don't know if I want to do this anymore. My mom meant everything to me. She was the best. Like, I mean, I was a fat little boy, and I would make my muscle, and she'd be like, oh, he's so strong, look at him. So she made me feel like

I was a superhero. Yeah. Right? Moms are the best. Do you think that in those moments where you saw her doing all those things, you gain strength and go, man, this is the shit that matters, right? Like, she was willing to go above and beyond and really do, I mean, a nuclear power plant to give you guys an opportunity to live. Like, how important was seeing that for Kobe Covington?

Yeah, I think that was, you know, monumental. It was one of the most important things I could see that she was going from the nuclear power plant. She'd come home. She was delivering mail. And then her third job was she was cleaning houses and seeing that work ethic and she was never around. You know, she was always, you know, working so she could put food on the table for us and have a roof over our head. To see that strength and that work ethic, it really instilled it in me and it gave me no other choice. Like, your mom can do this. She's a woman and she's a powerful, strong woman. You need to rise up and be a man and be an alpha and take control of your future and your destiny.

And when your dad starts to coach you and train you in wrestling, is he like in, like hard? Was he a hard dad? He was very hard dad. You know how wrestling dad's right. Dude, but guess what, though? Kobe, like, I haven't been hard on my son. Okay. I was hard when he was super young.

And then I peeled back. I was like, ah, it's too long. It's like, it's a marathon. But now he's 15. He's going to be a freshman. Now I'm like insanely hard on him. And now he's looking at me like, oh my God, what's happening? He was hard, though?

Yeah, he was very hard, you know. How long? Like, from when you start to seven, like, at what point does he start to really press you? Dude, honestly, I could remember when I was eight and it was going to be my birthday. And I had like a state tournament, like a freestyle state tournament the following day. and my dad made me skip my birthday and the celebration that I had planned with all my friends, he's like, you're not going to eat cake,

you're going to lose five pounds, and you're going to make this weight tomorrow and you're going to wrestle. Really? Yeah, and it was extremely hard. I went to my mom like, no, I don't want to wrestle. I want to just be a kid and enjoy my birthday.

But looking back on it, it was the best example I could have had. I was going to ask you that. Like, I was going to ask you, because I coached kids, and there are some certain dads can be very hard on their kids, but at times it kind of bothers their relationship.

And down the line, the relationship suffers a little bit for it. When did it change for you where it was like, God, I can't stand my dad? To now I understand why he did the things that he did. There's a guy that has two sons that play football right now. He's a running back for the Detroit Lions. John, whatever Detroit Lions running back is, the dad's insane. Okay. At what point did you go, man, all that, it sucked.

I missed my damn birthday. I didn't hang on with my friends. But then you understood those things led you to becoming a guy that became an All-American twice. A guy that became a UFC champion. A lot of those lessons were learned in that wrestling room. So it's hard to balance the push versus the love of a father. Like at what point did you realize it was good? I think I realized it was good, like going into college because I started seeing like the opportunities it afforded me.

Otherwise, I would have never been able to go to college unless I got a wrestling scholarship. So I started getting these scholarship offers And I started seeing like, wow, this hard work is starting to pay off Now I can go to college and, you know, chase my dreams And have all these great opportunities ahead of me So, you know, definitely in college In high school, I definitely hated him I was like, this guy's too hard on me, man

Why can't he just let me, you know, be a kid and enjoy life? But like he was tough and he was structured And like that's what gave me the mindset To chase my dreams and be fearless in pursuit of what I want in life Did you ever Did you ever go back and say thank you? you know i i i don't think i had said actual thank you but i think i i say thank you by you know doing other things you know being able to help out you know being able to you know

reach a high level of success in business that i think that's the thank you you know i'm not gonna go and mom too yeah i got bought her a nice house in tennessee and you know she's able to live a good life now and you know not work as much and uh you know very very thank you very thank you very thankful for my parents. You know, I know without them, I would be nothing. When you're signing the papers on that house, right? Because I did that for my mother before she passed. Yeah. I think as I'm signing, right, because I'm in San Francisco and I'm buying this house in Louisiana because she would not leave our hometown. And you're buying this thing, cash, right? You're going in there with all this money to write a check for a house for your mom.

And I just think back to every time we would drive our little station wagon to someone's house to clean it, to when she would put us all in the car and drive us to vacations in Houston, Texas, because we never got on flights. I didn't get on an airplane until I flew to the World Championships when I was on the cadet World Team. I had never been on an airplane. Wow. I was thinking about all that.

Were you thinking about that? Like, look at what my mom had to go through for me to be where I am today. And then when you did, if you did, what did that mean to you? Honestly, it meant everything. You know, I would reflect on when we were kids. And, you know, she was, all she could afford is a two-bedroom apartment for herself. And I had to share a room with my older sister. And, you know, I reflected on that.

I didn't really ever have shoes on. I don't remember ever having shoes on. I was always wearing barefoot and stuff in my toe. Yeah. That's how you get faster. There you go. When you can't really afford shoes, you run without them. And you go, man, I run faster with no shoes.

That's true. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, it just, you know, it definitely made me want to refurb. reflect on the past and where we came from and now the position we're in where I'm able to do these things, it's the most rewarding thing. It's so much more humbling to be able to give back to your parents who gave us everything because we wouldn't be anything without our parents, you know, paving the way for us. That's crazy, man, because I think that's a part of you

that people don't understand. I don't think you have allowed for people to know that part of you. And I think when you do, you can understand why. it matters so much to you to make this thing successful. Because I got to be honest, man, a lot of guys, they should attribute some of their success to you also. Because of the spotlight that you were able to put on some of the rivalries that we are about to talk about as we get into this interview. But you leave there and you go wrestle college.

You become a two-time All-American. Now it's time to make a decision. Do I chase this Olympic dream or do I go into fighting? How quickly did you realize fighting was going to be the path? I realized it in my junior year. I didn't even want to go back for senior year because junior year I'd been training with Chale helping him out for the Anderson Silva fight

and I was up at Team Quest with him like every weekend, you know, training with him and Matt Linlin and all those guys up at Team Quest and he was like already telling me like the direction where to go with the future and just like how you can make such a good career out of this. And the wheel started turning. I was like, dude, I don't want to go back my senior year

and I was telling my parents I was going to drop out my senior year. They're like, absolutely not doing it. Get your degree finish up. It's one year left. You can go after that. You'll get tougher that senior year. Get some good, more competition. You're going to go to school.

Like, I had to convince me because I was like set on it. I was like, no, I'm going. Like I've talked to jail. I know the route. I know what I can do to change my life and change my financial future. But they were tough. They said, nope, you're going back. So of course, you know, I got to listen to my parents.

I went back. I stuck it out. And then as soon as I got done, like the Olympic Training Center, they'd send me like an email. Hey, if you want to come out, we'll pay for your room. board, you know, you could try and chase the Olympic ladder, but I was already set on it. You know, I was already reaching out to a couple of MMA gyms and then, you know, American Top Team gave me the offer. They said, hey, we're going to pay for your housing. We're going to

pay for your food money. Just come out here and train full time. And I was like, for a broke college student student student, that was the greatest gift I ever got. Because you're broke and you got debt. I mean, it's crazy, right? Those student loans will kill you. They kill you. Every time. And it seems like you're in a mountain of stuff that you'll never get out of when you get out of college. And you got student loans of a $70,000. You're like, how am I going to make $70,000 to pay this shit off? Yeah. So you go fighting.

You know, when you move to American top team, you immediately meet Jorge Mazzvedal, right? He's a teammate of yours. And you guys have this great team of guys that are training. Little did you know or did any of us know that at some point that will become one of the biggest rivalries of your entire career. But before that, you were just Kobe Covington, the kid that wrestled. There was no chaos. When did you realize that like when did can you specifically point? Because I saw something where you said in the Damien Maya fight you knew, man.

If I don't do something more, I'm going to probably get cut from this thing, even though I'm winning. You have to kind of save your career. So like what was the pressure like going into that Damien Maya fight? I realized that after I fought the number six guy in the world, Dongham Kim, and I went to Singapore to fight him. And I just saw like how Sean Shelby was treating me like after the fight. He's like, oh, yeah, you know, maybe we'll get you someone in the rankings. maybe not, you know, he didn't really have like a plan for me. And I'm just like, dude, I'm like 8-1, 9-1 in the UFC.

Like, how am I not getting like a crazy contract and big, big fights, you know, and number one contender fights, championship fights, like, what's the direction? So I knew. I was like going after that fight, I started talking mad smack. I was like, Damien, Mom, I'm going to come drop my nuts on your head, right in your hometown of South Polo, Brazil. All you Brazilians are filthy animals and Brazil's a dump. And I just, I knew going into that fight, I had to do something different, you know,

otherwise I was going to lose my job. And it's crazy because, like, my manager at the time, Dan Lambert, he didn't tell me that, like, he talked to Sean. Sean said, no matter what Colby does in the Damien Maya fight, we're not resigning him. He's not interesting. He's not, like, an exciting fighter. He doesn't sell money. So we're not going to resign him to a contract. So I was like, it's just crazy because, like, I never knew that, but, like, I had a gut intuition.

Like, it was like, God telling me, like, bro, you need to do something. You need to do something drastic. Otherwise, you're not going to be making money in the sport. And you're going to be going and working a basic job again. They want to do that. You cannot go back to work in a basic job after you do this shit. Because the rush of the fight is too good. It's too much the rush of walking out of the cage and going into the octagon.

But I was in there in that octagon. And at the time, I didn't realize you had moved from COVID so early on it goes, hey, they might love this guy in Clovis, California, even though you hate them out here, give it up for Kobe Kiosk Covington. I still, to this day, Kobe, have not heard a place boo louder than that. And I was in an arena with 61,000 people in Israel-At-Asonia beat Robert Whitaker. Yeah. And it was louder than that in South Paulo that night.

And then you go back to the hotel and they're trying to kill you. Trying to kill me, man. All the Favilla gang members showed up and they were trying to kill me. They had to have the Secret Service of Brazil, like, escort me out, like put a hoodie on, keep my eyes down and get on the next flight out right away. Were you thinking like, oh, my God, I went too far? Yeah. I was thinking why I went too far when the next fight, UFC tried to.

to put me back in Rio for a title fight with RDA, and then they found out I had a $50,000 bounty on my head. So they moved the whole show from Rio, UFC, all the way to Chicago, Illinois, for that fight, for that title fight. On, like, three or four weeks notice. That's when I knew it was serious. I was like, oh, fuck, they got a bounty on my head in that country. They want me dead?

Yeah, that's bad. Like, I didn't really want to do that much. No. But then you go and you beat RDA and you become the interim champion. That, that, I'm pretty certain you got treated differently by everyone. at that point. How good did that feel to really switch the narrative, right? Because you went from a guy, I'm cutting him regardless

to now, this dude's the interim champ. You go from fight, you go from maybe not having a job to all of a sudden you're in a title fight and you're the interim champion. Like, could you even wrap your mind around it? I couldn't, honestly. It just, everything was going

downhill or uphill, I mean, downhill so fastly, all the things were starting to fall into place. You know, President Trump had called me right afterwards and I was like, hey, I want to bring you to the Oval Office. And, you know, I want you to deliver this belt to the Oval Office in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And Dana White was showing me respect. Hunter Campbell starts calling me.

He's like, hey, you're just going to deal with me from now on, you know. You want fights. We're going to talk about your business. Like, you're not going to talk to the matchmakers anymore. I'm going to handle this business with you. And we're going to separate which fights are going to happen. So I was just like, what? Hunter Campbell's calling me now?

Like, he's the face that runs the place of this organization. And now I have his personal line. And, like, he's treated me like a manager. like who I'm representing myself now. It just, everything started to fall into place. I started to get respect and people started to notice me. You know, every fighter knew me in the company.

A lot of them hated me, but they still knew me. And that's what I wanted to do. I just wanted people to know me. I just wanted people to care. Whether they hated me or love me, didn't matter. I just wanted them to care and be interested

and want to watch me fight. And if I did that, then I did my job, and I did what I stood out to do. Yeah. And so then you get Kamar Usman to notice you. He hated you. This was not, this was not just,

of fighting. This is not just fighting. This was a real life rivalry, right? What do you remember about that time in your life? Oh, man, it was a fun time, you know? I just remember, you know, really just enjoying the process. You know, it was so fun to, like, being a title fight, like, in the highest level in the world, like, in a cage, you know, like doing the UFC, you know, it just, it was a dream come true. You know, I was at that point, I was officially living the American dream.

I was my own boss. No one could tell me what to do. I showed up when I wanted to show up. I woke up when I wanted. I dictated the terms of the way my future was going to go. And I just, I remember loving it, you know. And, you know, it just, it was a fun rivalry. You know, there always needs to be a good guy, bad guy in every story.

And you know storylines better than anybody with WWE. So I'm just happy that I created some history and made big fights and it made him a ton of money, you know, even though I hated him. And we, you know, we don't have a friendship or anything. Did you guys really start to dislike each other, Don, when it was happening? Oh, yeah. I mean. You couldn't.

You couldn't stand him. No, I couldn't stand him at all. I just thought he was just very fake and arrogant. And like, like, it's one thing to, like, think you're the shit and, like, believe in yourself. But it's another thing to, like, how you treat others. And, like, if you really have an ego, like, I don't like people to have egos, you know. And I think, you know, he has a little bit of an ego. He thinks his shit don't stink.

And I just, you know, I think we should all be humble people because at the end of the day, you know, we're all going to go to the same place. You know, maybe some place, some people different places than others. but, you know, I think that, you know, we got to serve a purpose down here and make a big impact and, you know, just be good children of God. When you guys got into that first fight, it was crazy. And then the New York fight was crazy. It was like, you had like such great fights. But ultimately, you fell a little bit short in those fights. How did you deal with, God dang, man?

I was very close. Because, again, I say you and I share a lot of things in common. We also were both all-Americans, but didn't quite get over to help and get a national chance. championship. Yeah. And then it's like you get in these fights with these guys. Obviously, John Jones is a guy that had the same type of emotions for. It was very difficult for me to get back on the horse, to get back going in the right

direction. Obviously, I was lucky, right, because he was just a screw up and he would get himself in trouble. Then I would get to just fight for the belt that he wasn't there anymore. But how difficult was it for you to bounce back after Kamaru's fights? And like, man, I still want to be the champ because to me, it's about proving I'm the best in the world. on that night against RDA you felt like the best in the world but after you lose that fight

obviously it's uh that's not that's not the case yeah you know the first fight there was a lot of controversies it was very close you know it was very close you know it was it was a clearly early stoppage I was in on a double lake intelligently defending myself with my hand and he's hitting me in the back of the head for the last four or five shots and I'm putting my hand behind the back and then I have I'm reaching out on a double leg and Mark Godder just stops it I mean it's one of the worst stoppages in U.S. history Oh, no, it doesn't haunt me because, you know, the consolation prize, I made a lot of money, you know, and, you know, I have a great life, you know, and, you know, I'm set for life, you know, financially.

I don't ever have to do anything ever again if I don't want to, but that competitive drive won't let me stop. So it doesn't haunt me, you know, it's just, I'm so happy that I made it to that point, Daniel, like, no one ever thought I was going to be here. No one thought I'd be in college. No one thought I'd be an All-American. They definitely never thought I'd get to the UFC and make it to the top of the world, you know, at the top or epschalon of the world. it doesn't haunt me you know everything happens for a reason i feel like everything is god's plan i just i trust his plan i know that he has the plan for me and you know i need to be able to rise above it don't let losses define who i am as a person you know because then you know that that shows who your

character what your character is and i want to show that you know you can rise up and you can come back stronger and every loss is just a chance to learn so i learned from it you know i i realized there was a lot of controversy in that first fight i kicked him in the liver like it was below above the belt line he called the nutshot he got a five minute break that changed that changed just momentum. We know how momentum works is in sports. The second fight in Madison Square Garden, it was three to two, but a lot of people thought I won three to two. It was very close fight. Very close. He had one round that he really won the second. The rest of the fight,

you know, I thought I won. So it's up to the eyes of the viewers, you know, and I think the viewers, you know, they showed a lot of love for me and they showed that, hey, a lot of people voiced their support saying, hey, Colby thought, they thought I won the fight. So like, that gave me some satisfaction. That let me feel like, hey, my hard work paid off. And like, maybe they didn't, maybe I didn't win that night and get that undisputed title, but a lot of people thought I was the undisputed champ, and that's what's most important. Yeah.

Then you get to George Mosvedal, a guy that you were roommates with initially? Were you guys roommates in the gym, or roommates in an apartment? We had an apartment together. Yeah, we had an apartment together for, I don't know, three, four, five years. When did it start to turn when you got success? Yeah, it was when I beat Damia Maya,

because he had just lost the Damia Maya the fight before. So right when I beat Damia Amaya, that's when he was like, oh, this motherfucker, he's not my training partner anymore. This isn't my friend. He's my competitor, and we're going to have to fight and cross paths. And I remember he said in the interview, he was like, before we ever talked about, he's like, yo, I'd fight my own mother for money. And I'm like, were you guys still living together?

No, no. At this point, I went back to the gym and I was like, I want to dedicate my whole life to M&A. I'm going to live in the gym in a dorm. And it's not a comfortable lifestyle, but I'm going to get uncomfortable. I'm going to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. And this is going to help me out in the long run in my fight career. So when you hear him say this, what do you think?

thinking? I was just like, dude, we had a plan. Dude, we talked about it for years when we were living together. He's like, yo, we're going to, we might have to fight one day. And if it happens, then we'll set us out of our friendship. We'll fight and we'll be friends afterwards. Let's make money together, you know? And so I always thought like, hey, we're going to make money together. We can sell this and like make it a big fight and, and show animosity, you know, build it up, sell it, this and that. And then be friends afterwards. But he couldn't do it. He couldn't separate his ego and like his friendship and losing the fight and then being able to be cool with me.

Like he has an ego and he just, he's not a good person and he showed his true colors in the moment that, you know, everything we talked about, he couldn't let that aside. Do you think that in the fight when you're taking him down and you're controlling him in the way to you, because, I mean, you controlled him the entire time, he's now going in his mind like, God, dang, this is the kid that I actually took

and I was training with because the training partner, hey, they say ain't no fun when the rabbit got the gun. They ain't no fun when the rabbit got the gun. Yeah. When they realized that, there's a,

almost like an exhale of like, God dang, did you feel that in the fight with him? It was almost like, he didn't quite give up, but he kind of accepted I can't beat Kobe anymore. Yeah. Were you able to feel that? I was, but I mean, dude, he did the best he ever did on that night.

I mean, he usually always got finished by me in the gym. Really? Yeah, I'd get him out, I'd submit him. It was just, I'd play with him. I remember I'd touch him in the forehead when I was in Mount and just play with him because he couldn't stop my takedown. But he was actually defending on the ground in that fight. No, yeah.

Dude, that's the best he's ever fared against me in competition and practice and anything. He had the perfect night that night to not get finished because that's the best he's ever done. And so, like, I feel like he felt accomplished. Like, yo, I put up the best fight I could have put up against Colby. Like, all these years training, he used to dominate me, finish me, submit me, easy, and it made me look bad. And, you know, he was somewhat competitive, you know? He got beat five rounds.

He got 50, 43 in a soda, but, you know, he was somewhat competitive. Kobe, times have kind of changed a little bit now, right? Things aren't necessarily going in the way that Kobe Covington expects him to go, right? with the Joaquin Buckley fight and those fights like what's your mindset right now

at the state of your career because you're in a different stage right? This is not, this is not normal to you. You lost that fight very early in your career with the guillotine

that was kind of like I or whatever but like the last couple it's like you're in a bit of a different spot right now like where's your mindset in regards to your career? You know my mindset is you know I did everything

I set out to do you know I said I wanted to be a world champion and I promised my mom when I was a little kid, mom, I wanted to be the best in the world. Like, at the time, it was wrestling, but, like, once I shifted my mind to fighting when I was in high school and college, it was always going to be the best fighter in the world.

So I was able to achieve that, and I've been able to create generational wealth myself with good investments, good, you know, business strategy. And, you know, I just want fun, exciting fights now. I want the big fights that make me want to get up at 6 a.m. And go train hard. So, you know, the last fight, you know, like I told the UFC,

Hunter, I said, dude, I'm, I'm super busy on the campaign trail. Like, I'm not going to be ready to fight this year. Like, let me fight in the middle of next year. Like, so they're like, okay, we understand. But then when his opponent pulled out, they called me, they're like, hey, this fight's happened in two weeks. We really need you. Like, it's in Tampa right up the road from, can you, can you do us a favor? So I was like, you know what, dude, I haven't trained in like a couple months. I'm on the campaign trail. I'm in New York with Trump. I'm, you know, in South Carolina, all these swing states trying to win the election because that's more important than my fight careers to take back our country and, you know, have freedom back. But, you know, they told me,

you know, we weren't going to fight until next year. And then they needed me to do a favor. And I'm just like, you know, I'm a company, man. I love this company more than anything. This company has given me opportunities I never thought would have been possible, you know, and I thank the company every day for everything they'd done for me. But I wasn't ready for the last fight. So I just, you know, after that fight, I just said, hey, man, just give me a full camp. I don't want to do, I'm at the later stage of my career. I shouldn't have to show up on two weeks notice, cut all the weight I had to cut first off. I couldn't even perform. They had me cut, you know, I was 200 pounds.

I had to cut 30 pounds on two weeks' notice. So it was already hard enough to make weight, but then go perform. That was impossible. Like, they put me in an uneven playing field. And I wasn't even training because I was on the campaign trail for three, four months. So, you know, I went into that blindsided because I'm like, this guy's a bum. He's not going to do anything to me. So, I don't know.

My mindset now is just I want big and important fights that add to the legacy. otherwise, you know, I just want to stay busy in R-AF, you know. I like wrestling. It's my first love, you know. We'd love to have you in RIF if it's ever possible. I love to see you against maybe one of the Olympic champs of your time because I thought you were the best wrestler on the planet. Thank you, I saw you wrestle at Oakley State. I was like,

that guy especially is going to be an Olympic champ. If it wasn't for you, cutting all that way, 100% you would have been Olympic champ. We all know it in America. Thank you, Colby. You're the man. So just chasing belts, that's good. You want big fights. You know, one thing you just said to me, it's very important. You're on the campaign trail.

You are an avid support of the president. He goes to your fights. He shows support to you. We get the UFC fight card at the White House, right? And it seems like if there is anyone that is going to be on that fight card, it's going to be Kobe Covington, right? Like you said, they needed a favor, you did it. Two weeks notice, oh, then your career doesn't matter.

I will show up. how disappointed are you that you're not fighting at the White House? You know, at first, I was very disappointed and frustrated just because, you know, I know how much it meant to my parents. Like, my parents wanted that opportunity so bad and, like, they were talking about it every day. You're going to get on the White House. You're going to have this big fight.

Maybe it's going to be Connor. Maybe it's going to be a Diaz. Maybe it's just going to be another big fight. And I know you fight anybody. So it was really important to them. So, like, when at first thing it happened, it was, like, frustrating, like, more for them. And, like, it was kind of rubbing off on me.

So I was kind of getting mad. But now that I look back on it, I'm not disappointed at all, bro. I've been to the White House many times, four or five times, you know, on election night. You know, I delivered my belt there to 1600 in the Oval Office. So it's like to fight at the White House, it's a great opportunity for someone who's never been to the White House. But I've been in the White House so many times. I go to the Winter White House at Mar-a-Lago every other weekend. So looking at it now from the perspective, you know, it is what it is.

It's the UFC's call. It's their decision. Hunter didn't need me. He said, you know, it's going to be a short car. We don't have any available fights for you, so I'm sorry. You know, I thought when they were holding me out, they were holding me out for that fight. And I thought I was going to get the fight on the White House, but they had other plans. And they didn't give me the opportunity.

So I trust the UFC and Hunter Campbell's decision and his business plans. He knows how to run a company. You know, they're a multi-billion-ar company. They know what they're doing. So they didn't need me, you know, so what can I do? It is what it is, right? Well, Nichols said you got offered a fight against him at the White House. Is this true?

It's fake news, DECM. Really? Go ask Hunter right now. Go ask him if he asked. Yeah, swear to God. Go ask Hunter Campbell right now if he offered me both for the White House. I would have taken that fight in a second. The guy's not a fighter.

He's a competitor. He's not a fighter. He gets hit a little adversity. He quit before he even got need. He's never even been in a high-level ranking fight. The guy's a bum, and he's not even in my weight class. He's in a middle-weight weight class. Why would I go to middle-weight?

I'm a wealthy-way. I never fought a middle-weight. So it's just, the fight never got offered. I saw that. I saw him. I was watching that. I saw both said. The guy's a liar.

The Bull said that they offered you to fight and you just said no. And that's why he's Bozo. Because he's not a real person. Be genuine, dude. Like, dude, at least say truthful stuff. Like, you can literally go ask Hunter right now and he'll tell you 100%. That fight was not offered or ever on the table for the White House. I told him I would have fought anybody at the White House.

We could have fought Beau. We could have fought John Jones and heavy. I don't care anybody. I just wanted that opportunity. You were roommates with John Jones? Yeah, we were roommates. Like actual living together? Actually, bunk bed, dude, I had to put him on the top bunk

Because I used to sleepwalk, so I didn't want to fall up the top bunk So I went on the bottom bunk, he went on the top bunk Yeah, and Iowa Central Did you really, did you dislike John as much as you portrayed at, like, even in college? Well, it wasn't until like my last year in college when he started doing testosterone Because he wanted to beef up from 197 to heavyweight So his plan was like, hey, let's just start doing a bunch of testosterone to get strength And get bigger

And that's when his mood swings just started going all over the place He started yelling at me for little shit. Like I'd have my shoes like, Like up front by the door. What the fuck, Kobe? Why are you fucking used by the door? I almost tripped out. Like freaking out of making a big deal

out of something. Colby, you're lying. I wish I was lying. This is chaos. I wish I was, I'm actually talking to chaos now. No, it's, I'm being real, bro. That's his honest truth, bro.

And he, like, he would scream about dishes. He even, like, even brought that back in an Instap post a couple years ago. Yeah, I made Colby do the dude. Like, he would freak out about little shit that didn't matter just because he was having mood swings from all the chemicals and the steroids he was putting in his body. That's facts.

Really? No one can dispute that. he failed two or three stairway tests. The guy's a cheater, bro. He was doing it in college because he wanted to bulk up to heavyweight. He didn't want to go 197 anymore. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news.

What's the news, Nick? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts.

We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember I think it was on a call about what we should call it And we were thinking I'm originally calling it One of the early names of our band Before Jonas Brothers

This is how you guys remember it going down Yes I have a very different memory of this We were talking about a thing A bit for the podcast For people could call in and say hey Jonas And then I wrote down on my little notepad Hey Jonas and offered it up as a potential title For the podcast

But thanks for remembering that guys listen to hey Jonas on the iHeart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcast just listen we don't care where you hear it the UFC right now is getting a lot of a flack on the white house card talking about it's not the card that people thought it was going to be what do you think of that fight card what do you make an iliot to pour you versus just engage you because at the end of the day we have an american guy fighting in the main event at the white house yeah i mean you know i think the fans have spoken, you know, like the UFC, I love them and, you know, they always got great plans, but, you know, they promised six or seven title fights for President Trump.

No, no, the President promised that. Oh, President Trump? Okay. The President said they're going to have eight title fights. I just kind of thinking to myself, like, wait, I think we only have seven champions. Yeah. The rest of the year canceled? The President goes, you know, we got seven title fights. I think there's only seven male weight classes. Yeah. I mean, it's the celebration of the 250th birthday of the greatest country on God's Green Earth, you know, America. And, you know, You'd think that there'd be more American fighters on it from top to bottom. You'd think that there'd maybe be some favorable matches for the American.

But to send Gagey out there to get slaughter, I mean, Teporia is the best fighter on the planet right now. No one can, I think, dispute that. I mean, he's knocking. He's not good. He's just finishing these guys, Holloway, Volcanovsky and Oliver. He's just on another level right now. He's in his prime. And, you know, Gage is on his way down.

And there's no, you know, beating father time. So, you know, I just feel like they could have put more Americans in bigger fights. and they didn't put the best American fighters on the card, you know? You put Gagey, you know, he's a good American fighter for sure, but, you know, there's other great American fighter. I'm happy Sean O'Malley's on there, you know, he's going to put on a good show for sure. But, you know, Michael Chandler,

41, 42-year-old Michael Chandler, you know, he's a punching bag now. And that kid's good, too. Roofie's good. Yeah, so another guy, he's getting sent to slaughter on our birthday for America. Yeah, he's good. Kobe, before I let you go, I have two things. I always finish my interviews with, is it raining out there? No.

Oh. Why? You don't hear that? I thought I heard rain hitting on the top of the roof. I got two things. One, I want to ask you one thing real fast. This is kind of like my beef, but I want to ask you about it. What do you make of the whole Nate Diaz?

Because Nate Diaz was actually trying to fight me again the other day. He hates me for some reason. He's not trying to fight. You'd kill him. He was mad at me for no reason. Let him be mad, bro. He said to me, he called me, he did call me a bitch again. He's constantly calling me a bitch.

But he said, I can't fight, I can only wrestle. If I can't fight, what does Neh Diaz do? Dude, bro, Ney has no idea what he's talking about. He's so delusional, bro, in his thinking. He smoked too much weed where he's got a chemical imbalance in his head. Everybody knows you're the gnaty goat. If there's a goat discussion, you're the natural goat. Like, all the other guys that are above you are only guys that did steroids and abused chemicals.

So everybody knows you the best of all time. And he's just jealous that he didn't reach the level of success that you did. How many title defenses do you have? You had, dude, you were knocking dudes out left and right. Maybe he comes back and you fight him for me? I would love to. Could you handle that for me, Kobe? With my hand time, I was back.

Just like you. He could fight him with no hands time buying. Your bag is still beat him. You're so crazy. He's such a bum to stalk the soy boy. Oh, my God. Such a soy boy, bro. Eating soy fucking voting for Gavin Newsome out in California.

You're so crazy, man. All right, Kobe. Before I let you go, man, when this thing's all said and done, done, right? Like when the book is closed and you're off doing your business, actually, you know what? Wait, as I mentioned your business, real American beer, real American freestyle wrestling. The Great Hulk Hogan was a very, an originator of this product. You are now part owner in this company. Like, how do you continue to expand your portfolio? You know, it's just like the saying goes, your network is your net worth. And I have a very good network, you know, and I've made some good connections. through my career and through like the brand that I was able to create in the UFC so you know I thank God every day for you know cross and pass with Hulk Hogan you know because he gave me this opportunity to invest in this beer real American beer and carry on his legacy you know a legacy of a

great American a fearless patriot and a guy that was a fighter in his own right you know and a great fighter in that so you know it's a 200% American company you know and it's brewed right here in the US you know and for all the people out there that don't drink beer the great thing this is real American beer zero. So like if you don't drink beer, this gives you that same feeling like you're drinking beer, but you're still having a good social hour with your friends that want to drink beer. So, you know, I'm very thankful for Rear American Beer. God bless them. And then of course, Real American Freestyle, bro. This is a great league. It's up and coming. We have a great private equity firm that's funding it. Fox, it's on Fox Nation. So Fox Nation is like...

And doing really, I've heard some of the numbers behind off the record. I heard it's doing insanely good. They said it's the top, top show on Fox Nation right now. So it's doing great. So If you ever want to come wrestle for us, you know, let me know. I invest it in them as well. So, you know, we'd love to get you over there, you know. I can't wear a singlet no more, man. I'm so fat. I can't.

I would never put a single one. We'll get you the two piece. We'll get you the two pieces. Unless they give me one of those things that squeeze around your stomach to put it in, you know. I can't go in those singles looking like that, man. I want a bell, I want like a whatever, those waist sent to, with Kim Kardashian wearing those waistenters. We know you can still dump someone on their head, though.

I can still wrestle a little bit. We know, I can't. COVID. To the day you die. They told me that the Hulk actually, when you fought in Tampa, he was carrying the flag. They said the Hulk was told to go out in front of him. He said, no way, brother. I'm going to stand behind him because I'm with him tonight.

Is that a true story? Because I don't know what to believe from jail most times. Yeah. They said you told the Hulk, go out first. He goes, oh, no, Kobe. I'm with you tonight. And he walked behind you carrying a flag. That's true.

True story. I wanted him to go out because that was the city, Tampa, Florida. Everybody knows he was the King of Tampa. He lived there and, you know, did all his business there. So I wanted him to walk out front in the arena to, you know, grace him. You know, I knew he wanted to walk out to an electric arena again. And, you know, he was praying for me backstage, you know, like, Colby, I wish I was in your shoes. And I was doing this tonight, selling out this arena and getting everybody excited.

But, you know, I'm excited I can walk with you to that arena tonight and walk to the cage. And, you know, I wanted him to walk out there, but he wouldn't do it. He's like, nope, Colby, this is your show tonight. I'm not going to be the center of attention in the face. want you to be the face. I'll walk right beside you, though. And the reason he, people always ask, like, why was he bringing the flag? They don't know that, like, he was a little bit so injured, like, some surgeries. Like, he needed that to walk down, like, because he couldn't walk, and, like, he was, you know, he was hurting. So it was, like, the fact that he sucked

it up to walk out, I was just, I'm so grateful for him. And, you know, I'll always be thankful for the Hulk, man. I just, God rest of his soul. Yeah, that's a rough career to make you living. All right, Kobe, I'll let you go on this one. When it's all said and done, Chapter is closed, book is closed. What do you want people to remember about Kobe Covington? I just want people to remember me as just a fearless guy who, you know, took the road less traveled, you know, and it's okay to take that road. You know, you don't always have to take the conventional route. You can take the long way of route, but just, you know, just to be remembered as, you know, someone fearless, you know, and, you know, he lived life on his own terms.

Well, you're set up for some success now and later. Congratulations. Guys, Kobe Covington, will at some... point make a return to the octagon and when he does know that the show will follow him as it has over the course of his entire career we want to thank colby for joining us until next time like and subscribe tell your friends to tell their friends i'm checking in with people like colby chaos covington who by the way i still has one of the biggest videos on my youtube channel in history we did one in new york city like five or six hundred thousand views very very good yeah

until next time guys peace hey guys it's us the jonas brothers i'm joe i'm kevin and i'm nick and guess what We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know.

Tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.