Love him or hate him, Colby Covington’s MMA career appears to be over.
The former interim Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight champion has officially retired from active MMA competition, according to MMAFighting.com, which reported that Covington notified the promotion of his decision.
As a result, the 38-year-old was quietly removed from the UFC’s active roster and later flagged by UFC Roster Watch on X/Twitter, the automated account that tracks roster movement in real time.
As of this
writing, Covington has not publicly addressed the retirement news on social media.
While his polarizing (and corny) trash-talk persona often overshadowed his accomplishments, Covington leaves behind one of the stronger Welterweight legacies of his era.
“Chaos” entered the UFC in 2014 and quickly established himself as one of the division’s best pressure wrestlers. After suffering an early-career setback against Warlley Alves, Covington rebounded by rattling off seven straight wins, including victories over Demian Maia, Dong Hyun Kim, and Rafael dos Anjos, the latter earning him the interim Welterweight title.
Unfortunately for Covington, injuries prevented him from unifying the belt and he was later stripped of the interim title.
That led to his legendary rivalry with Kamaru Usman, where the pair delivered one of the best fights of 2019 at UFC 245 before Covington suffered a fifth-round stoppage loss (watch highlights). He later lost the rematch against Usman as well.
Following the Usman rivalry, Covington defeated former friend-turned bitter enemy Jorge Masvidal in the main event of UFC 272 before receiving one final title opportunity against Leon Edwards — a title shot many fans felt he had not earned.
Covington lost a lopsided decision to Edwards and later dropped his final MMA bout to Joaquin Buckley via doctor stoppage at UFC Tampa.
He officially exits the UFC with a 12-5 Octagon record and multiple championship appearances.
Even though Covington appears finished with MMA, he’s far from done competing.
The outspoken wrestler has already transitioned heavily into Real American Freestyle (RAF), where he’s defeated names like Luke Rockhold and Dillon Danis (watch highlights). He’s also currently scheduled to face former UFC Middleweight champion Chris Weidman later this month on May 30, 2026.
So while “Chaos” may be done inside the cage, don’t expect him to disappear from combat sports anytime soon.
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