Meet the UFC’s Colby Covington: the former welterweight champion campaigned for Trump and says he can ‘never repay’ him – but why did he just call LeBron James a ‘scumbag’?

The UFC’s tryst with US president-elect Donald Trump shows no signs of abating. With CEO Dana White emerging as one of Trump’s key allies during the election this year, it isn’t surprising to find UFC fighters increasingly showing up in support of the Maga leader. This time, it is Colby Covington who is making headlines for being a superfan.

At the recent UFC Tampa main event at Amalie Arena, Covington, nicknamed “Chaos”, entered with a Trump bobblehead on a gold chain around his neck, which he proceeded to kiss. Ahead of the fight against Joaquin Buckley, he told TMZ Sports that he was “super inspired by Donald Trump taking back the White House” and determined to “make the UFC great again”. Unfortunately for him, the match went to Buckley.

Covington wrestled, and played American football and lacrosse at school. He continued wrestling at Iowa Central Community College and the University of Iowa (UI) but, per Oregon Live, switched to Oregon State University (OSU) after being suspended from UI for a DUI. While at OSU, he was charged with fourth-degree assault.