Born on February 22, 1988, Colby Ray Covington is an American professional mixed martial artist who currently fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) welterweight division.
Who is the American Mixed Martial Artist Colby Covington?
Colby Ray Covington is an American professional mixed martial artist who currently fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) welterweight division.
He is a former Interim UFC Welterweight Champion. He is currently ranked #1 in the UFC welterweight rankings.
Covington lettered all four years as a wrestler at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon, and won the state championship at 171 pounds as a senior in 2006.
He committed to Arizona State University, but his test scores were not up to par, so he transferred to Iowa Central Community College, where as a true freshman, he won the 2007 165 lb national junior college wrestling championship with a 34–0 record.
Jon Jones, the eventual UFC champion, was his roommate at the time.
Covington moved to the University of Iowa’s wrestling team after his championship season at Iowa Central.
On August 10, 2007, he was detained for fleeing police and driving while intoxicated, with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.255, which was more than three times the legal limit of 0.08.
Covington was banned from the Hawkeyes for a year after his arrest, and he saw minimal action the following season.
Covington sought a fresh start and was persuaded to move to Oregon State University by former Hawkeyes coach Jim Zalesky.
Covington qualified for the NCAA tournament as a junior and a senior at OSU, where he finished fifth as a senior and earned All-American honors. At 174 pounds, he was a two-time Pac-10 Conference champion.
He was charged with fourth-degree assault in connection with an incident on May 23, 2010, when he was accused of hitting two individuals during a verbal disagreement.
Covington was not charged as a result of the event by the Benton County District Attorney’s Office.
In 2011, Covington earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology. He continued to wrestle and grapple after college, winning a gold medal in the 2013 FILA Grappling no-gi world championships.
