According to Covington himself – he received no PPV points for his well publicized clash with Jorge Masvidal. Covington landed himself in that situation by letting the UFC get too close – according to the man himself he fired his longtime manager Dan Lambert and proceeded to negotiate with the UFC without representation. This is of course, a recipe for a disaster which is why Jorge Masvidal likely won a premium that’s 3,4 times the size of what Covington cashed in for winning the bout.
Covington once advocated for UFC athletes to be compensated fairly and even threatened to leave. However – he’s singing a different tune as of late parroting a familiar line.
While speaking to MMA Journalist Ariel Helwani in 2019, Colby added:
“UFC needs to pay up and if they don’t pay up after this fight you will probably see me in WWE.” He added, “I am willing to retire after Saturday night and go to WWE forever and leave this stupid corrupt business behind.”
Covington told the Nelk boys something very different on the Full send podcast:
“I think it’s a joke. I think all the people that are complaining about fighter pay are the same fighters that can’t put their name out there. And put any hype behind any of their fights.”
“So they don’t deserve to be paid, you know. So you can get your piece of the pie. But you need to earn it, you know. Nothing’s given here. There are no handouts here in America. If you want something, you know you got to get it and earn it.” Covington concluded.
Meanwhile, Jorge Masvidal is one of the highest-paid athletes on the UFC roster despite being on a losing streak. Masvidal became a fan favorite after his record-breaking knockout of Ben Askren and his “BMF” title bout against Nate Diaz.
With that in mind, Colby Covington, who recently defeated Masvidal by decision at UFC 272, demands the same pay as his foe.
Masvidal is rumored to have earned at least $600.000 for his main event appearance at UFC 272. He signed a new contract prior to the event.
“My kids’ kids are gonna be good for a long time,” Masvidal said of his new contract. “So you sell that pay-per-view, boy.”
Meanwhile, Covington received about half of that amount, earning an estimated $310,000.
To make things worse for Covington, he did not get any pay-per-view points for his main event clash against Masvidal (what makes you wonder “who the heck is his manager?”).