Colby Covington
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
211.82167
Summary
Colby Covington has been a professional MMA fighter for 14 years . He's been the last 11 in the UFC . He says he'd gladly fight Rosie O'Donnell if she had the chance to kill him . The UFC is the only sport, professional sport in the United States where the participants are allowed to say what they think .
Transcript
00:00:00.000
Colby Covington has been a professional MMA fighter for 14 years. He's been the last 11
00:00:15.940
in the UFC. And in that time, he's become one of the most famous people in his sport worldwide.
00:00:22.220
So how should you feel about Colby Covington? Well, if you can judge a man by his enemies,
00:00:27.680
and you can watch Rosie O'Donnell. Trump just arrived at the UFC 296 because he loves Colby
00:00:37.260
Covington. And Leon Edwards, I hope, is going to smash his face in because I can't stand Colby
00:00:43.020
Covington and I can't stand Donald Trump. And the one thing I hate about the UFC is that he ruins it
00:00:48.780
every time he shows up. I mean, come on, Dana White. You got to do better. Really?
00:00:59.420
The question is, would Rosie O'Donnell kill Colby Covington if she had the chance? The answer
00:01:04.220
is, of course, yes. And she would do the same to you. We thought it'd be interesting to talk
00:01:08.960
to Colby Covington about that and other things. He joins us now. Colby, thanks a lot for coming
00:01:12.440
on. It's an honor to have you here. It's a real honor for me to be here. Thank you.
00:01:15.740
So why do you think Rosie O'Donnell, you've never fought Rosie O'Donnell, right?
00:01:20.540
Nah, I would never fight a woman. Thank you. Thank you for saying that. I mean, it's not
00:01:25.260
obvious now. When they're pretending to be men, a lot of people think it's okay to beat
00:01:28.040
them up. It's not. But why do you think she's so mad at you, since I assume you don't know
00:01:33.820
her or hang out with her? Yeah, no. You know, every time I see, you know, Rosie getting unhinged,
00:01:39.520
I think that's a sign that we're getting closer to taking back America. You know, she's a crazy,
00:01:44.740
mean, old, vile, old lady. But, you know, I'm not sure what I ever did to offend her. So I'd
00:01:49.520
gladly do it again. But we need to send her to the loony bin in 2024.
00:01:56.020
A crazy, mean, old, I think that's fair. I don't, you know, I don't think that's an
00:02:00.020
insult. I think it's just purely descriptive. So you have decided to just be very open about
00:02:06.160
your political views and mix them with your profession, which is fighting at UFC. Was
00:02:12.120
that a tough decision for you? No, it wasn't a tough decision because I wanted to stand by
00:02:16.800
what I believe in. And, you know, all the principles that I was founded upon through my
00:02:21.120
whole life. So once I saw the narrative was being shoved down our throat as professional
00:02:25.700
athletes one way and there wasn't another side, I was sick of that. And I was like, you
00:02:30.040
know what, there needs to be someone that stands up for the other side and stands up for what
00:02:34.160
they believe in. And, you know, I wanted to be that guy.
00:02:36.520
So there's been a lot of talk about why the UFC is the only sport, professional sport in
00:02:41.700
the United States where the participants are allowed to say what they think. And a lot of
00:02:45.740
that I think has to do with Dana White has just said we're allowing free speech and God
00:02:48.640
bless him for that. But it does seem like a big percentage of guys who fight at UFC are
00:02:55.440
on your side politically. Why do you think that is?
00:02:58.900
You know, I think they think that because they grew up in, you know, this constitutional,
00:03:02.720
you know, great country of America, you know, land of the free home of the brave. And I think
00:03:07.540
they've seen, you know, just the toxicity that this woke agenda has caused people. You
00:03:14.220
know, I mean, a lot of us are shadow banned on some of the some of the platforms. I'm
00:03:18.460
not going to speak their name because they don't deserve that attention. But, you know, when
00:03:21.640
you start taking away free sprites, that's a dangerous proposition. Yeah, there's no going
00:03:25.640
back from that. So I think people just want to stand up for what they believe in. And, you
00:03:30.280
know, the rights that this country was founded upon.
00:03:32.720
That seems pretty basic and moderate and sensible to me.
00:03:37.140
Yeah, for the most part, but not to the swamp establishment and the lobbyists and politicians.
00:03:46.960
Because they're paid. They're paid and bought for by China. You know, you've got people like
00:03:50.760
LeBron James who, you know, he makes all his money in his shoe deals in China with these
00:03:55.060
women that are working for, you know, pennies on the dollar in these sweatshops. And that's
00:03:59.380
how he makes all his money, you know. And then you got Travis Kelsey, who's Mr.
00:04:03.000
Pfizer, who's, you know, telling people he's he's paid and bought for by Satan himself.
00:04:07.620
Pretty much. He sold his soul to the devil. And, you know, he's telling people get the
00:04:10.880
double jab, you know. Oh, you know, if you get one jab, I'm not saying I'm for or against
00:04:15.180
vaccines. But if you get one jab, shouldn't you make sure that it's safe? And like there's
00:04:19.260
not going to be any side effects from that one. If you're getting two at the same time,
00:04:22.460
how are you going to know which one's giving you side effects? So some of the most just
00:04:26.400
atrocious, you know, things that I've ever heard someone say.
00:04:31.200
So I was told by a number of people that criticizing LeBron James is racist, but you did it anyway.
00:04:37.820
Yeah. You know, he hates America, the country that gave him billions of dollars. You know,
00:04:43.240
he never stands up for America. He sits down during the national anthem. You know, they they're
00:04:47.160
playing it for the people that fought and to protect this country and give us our freedom
00:04:51.780
so we can have opportunities like LeBron. And here he is sitting for it, making a joke out
00:04:56.100
of our national anthem and all the families out there that have to have suffering because they
00:05:00.520
lost, you know, some of their family members in war. And here he is just making a mockery of them
00:05:05.220
and just slapping them in the face. Do you think if he wasn't getting paid, he would do that? I mean,
00:05:10.720
do you think these are his real views or he's just acting on behalf of someone else?
00:05:15.720
You can tell he's acting on behalf of someone else and he's bought and paid for by the establishment
00:05:20.400
and pretty much whatever they tell him to do. He's just going to do that. He's a puppet to them.
00:05:25.360
So at some point, I don't know when it was less than 10 years ago, somebody clearly decided, hey,
00:05:30.720
NBA is really culturally influential and we need to make sure that our message is delivered by the
00:05:36.000
players at NBA. I mean, it's really obvious that that happened. Yeah. UFC is on its way to eclipsing
00:05:41.740
the NBA. I mean, I don't remember in the last year anyone talking about the NBA. Everyone's talking
00:05:46.820
about the sport that you're in. Will that happen to you guys at some point, do you think?
00:05:51.780
No, I don't think so because, you know, our leaders, Dana White and Hunter Campbell,
00:05:56.260
you know, they're believers in free speech and they don't put a muscle on anybody. They tell
00:05:59.960
everybody to think and stand on what you believe in and we're not going to tell you how to think
00:06:04.820
or act. You can do that on your own. But, you know, they went from being on the brink of not having
00:06:10.180
a company to now they're a multi-billion publicly traded company. So I don't think they're ever going to do
00:06:15.540
that. You know, they believe in free speech. They believe in constitutional rights and, you know,
00:06:21.000
everything that America stands for. I was kind of surprised to learn that you've been doing this
00:06:26.520
14 years. That seems like a long time to be in a business this rough. Did you ever, do you expect
00:06:32.760
to be in it that long? And how did you do that? Yeah, no, I didn't expect to be in it that long.
00:06:37.460
I wanted to get in and get out, you know, make a good living for myself, change, you know,
00:06:41.520
the structure that my family grew up in. We came from a blue collar family in Oregon. And,
00:06:45.600
you know, I wanted to be able to break that trend and that mold and be able to become a
00:06:49.760
multi-million dollar famous athlete. I didn't care so much about the fame, but I just wanted
00:06:53.600
the financial aspect, the freedoms from it so I could live a good life. So I didn't expect it to
00:06:58.840
be this long, but I'm loving every second of it. Are you really? I still love it. I enjoy it,
00:07:02.740
man. I enjoy all the hate, all the people that tell me that, you know, I can't do something or,
00:07:06.840
oh, you can't do this. Oh, you're going to get knocked out. We're going to do this to you. So
00:07:10.500
I enjoy that. That's what drives me. It gets me up early in the morning to work harder.
00:07:15.400
What's, what's your life like day to day? What's your training regimen like?
00:07:19.220
So I train six days a week, Monday through Saturday, and then I'll train twice a day,
00:07:23.560
three days out of the week, out of the six days. So do two a days, three days a week,
00:07:27.600
and six days, just one a days. How long is your training?
00:07:31.160
Three hours per training session. What does that consist of?
00:07:35.060
It consists of all the martial arts. I'll do kickboxing with one martial art,
00:07:39.680
and then I'll do jujitsu because you have to practice submissions. And then I'll do some
00:07:43.040
wrestling, and then I'll do strength and conditioning to make sure my conditioning is in peep form.
00:07:50.020
For 14 years. Ever since I got out of college, I went straight into MMA, and I wanted to make a
00:07:55.400
better life for myself. So this was the only professional sport. Wrestling, it's like you can
00:07:59.320
go to the Olympics and try and be an Olympic athlete, but those people make about the same
00:08:03.600
amount of money as the person that's flipping burgers outside here.
00:08:07.280
So I wanted to be a professional athlete and be able to really change my financial future.
00:08:18.240
I love it. I think that's my purpose. I feel like that's why God put me on this earth,
00:08:22.560
to chase my dreams and work hard and push my body and my mind to the limit. Not just my body,
00:08:28.660
but it's also a mental thing, and I feel like fighting is a lot of mental. The thoughts that
00:08:34.440
you put in your head are really, you can manifest a lot of things in this sport, but you can also
00:08:39.060
bring yourself down. If you're thinking negative thoughts, you're probably not going to have
00:08:45.040
So what are the things that you do to keep yourself strong inside, to keep yourself fearless?
00:08:49.720
Um, you know, I just, I think about, you know, the people that are the real heroes and celebrities
00:08:56.480
of this country, people like law enforcement, people in military. And I think about what their
00:09:00.800
day-to-day lives are there. There's no holidays for war. You know, these people are serving these
00:09:05.620
politicians and fighting these politicians wars overseas, but they don't get a, they don't get
00:09:10.260
like a Christmas holiday for war. No, they have to go over there and protect these people and
00:09:14.120
protect our country and keep us free and safe here. So I think about their life and their lifestyle.
00:09:19.360
And I'm, you know, I have a lot of friends in military, you know, my buddy, Steven Hodson,
00:09:23.200
who was a first, uh, Sergeant in for the army Rangers. And he's with the, the, the skydiving
00:09:28.640
team right now. And I just think about like what he's had to go through in Afghanistan and Iraq and
00:09:32.900
all these different, uh, wars that he's been in. And that's what makes me think about my life's easy,
00:09:37.480
man. I get to do something I love every day. This is my passion to get up and train every single day.
00:09:41.640
So how could I ever complain about my passion? Something I love when I have someone who's fighting
00:09:46.300
for our country. And, you know, he, all he knows is he's standing for the red, white,
00:09:49.820
and blue and our country's flags and colors. But he, you know, he's fighting these politicians
00:09:54.140
senseless wars and, and, but he's doing it, you know, he's, he's raising his hand saying,
00:10:01.340
That's amazing. I mean, the difference, one of the differences though, between what you do and
00:10:06.040
what he does is when you step into the ring, you know, for dead certain, there's going to be
00:10:10.800
And pretty real violence. Anyone who's watched it knows it's not, it's not a joke. It's not
00:10:15.060
professional wrestling. Yeah. You can get really, really hurt or killed actually. So how do you
00:10:19.760
keep the fear at bay? Um, you know, I always told myself growing up, there's only one man or one
00:10:25.900
thing that I'm ever going to fear and that's God. So, you know, I, I, I feel like God has a plan for
00:10:30.820
me and he put me here for a reason to, to have a platform and to be able to give it back to the
00:10:35.060
people that deserve it most, such as first responders, military, and, you know, our, our troops that
00:10:40.400
protect us every single day. So, you know, I just, I, I, I don't think about the, what could
00:10:46.360
happen, like the bad side of it. I think about how I could change my life and, and what good I
00:10:50.600
could do with it. Cause you know, I don't just want to get, get, get, I want to be able to give
00:10:54.460
and, and, you know, I'm starting up a nonprofit, you know, to benefit first responders and military
00:10:59.200
and, and to be able to give back to those people is like more important to me than, than how I feel
00:11:06.820
Do you ever get challenged in bars or restaurants with people who think they can take you?
00:11:12.840
No, I've never had that happen, but I also don't ever go to bars or drink alcohol.
00:11:18.060
Oh, you don't drink it. Does anyone in MMA drink?
00:11:20.700
There's a lot of fighters. Yeah, they drink a lot and they're big partiers, but not me. You know,
00:11:25.060
I, I like to live, you know, clean, healthy lifestyle. You know, I'm committed to my craft 24,
00:11:29.880
seven, 365. I'm not a part-time fighter who Dana calls me. He's like, all right, Colby,
00:11:33.920
you're going to fight in two months. All right, well, I got to get in shape now. No, I'm one of
00:11:37.560
those guys that prides myself on being ready at any time, anywhere and against anyone. So if they
00:11:42.460
call me tomorrow and they're like, Hey, you know, you're going to fight next week. I'm ready to fight
00:11:45.960
next week. And that's how I live my life. Does that happen or you get called up last minute?
00:11:50.200
Yeah. Oh yeah. I've taken a couple of short notice fights where I had to take it on a week or two's
00:11:53.680
notice. And, you know, if I didn't take those, you know, I wouldn't be in favor with the UFC and I
00:11:57.920
wouldn't be a guy that they can depend on, but it's one of my greatest, you know, assets to be
00:12:02.740
able to be ready to fight for them at any time and do good business for the UFC. How much time do you
00:12:09.280
spend with the other fighters? Zero. Really? Yeah. Why? Just because, you know, I'm more than just a
00:12:15.960
fighter. You know, I love fighting and that's one part of my life, but, you know, I try and have
00:12:20.140
separation from it and disconnect and also be just a human and a normal person. And, you know, I don't
00:12:26.680
want to surround myself and all my life just be all about fighting every day. You know, I need to
00:12:30.900
have some separation and just a different, different lifestyle than that. Hmm. What do you
00:12:37.180
think is going to happen with Trump in this election? You know, I think he's going to win
00:12:41.600
by a landslide if it's a fair election, but we know that they're going to do everything they can
00:12:46.360
to rig this election in any way. You know, they did the fake COVID and all the mail-in voting
00:12:51.340
last time. Which string are they going to pull next? Are they going to try and do some martial
00:12:55.360
law type stuff in America? I don't know. We know it's not going to be a fair election, but,
00:13:00.280
you know, Trump's the strongest fighter I've ever met and the most loyal person. You know,
00:13:04.960
what president went into office and their net worth went down after being in office? He's the
00:13:09.480
only one ever. Everybody else, you know, they sold out to the lobbyists and the politicians. So
00:13:13.360
his hard work for America is incredible. I mean, he was in Iowa one day. He was in New Hampshire the
00:13:19.400
next day. He came to watch my fight. And then he was in Reno the following day. I mean,
00:13:23.520
who's working harder for this country than him? That's how much he loves his country. It's not
00:13:27.920
about him or what he's doing to advance him or his family's name. No, he's doing this for our
00:13:33.960
country because he loves our country and he wants to put America first again.
00:13:42.920
You know, he just tells me how much he admires my wrestling abilities because he used to wrestle.
00:13:47.320
So I remember, you know, he was making funny jokes about himself when I went to the White
00:13:51.520
House to visit. And he's like, Colby, you know what I love about you is that you're a
00:13:55.360
wrestler. I used to wrestle, but I was the wrestler that was counting lights in the gym.
00:13:59.880
So he was pretty much making a joke about himself that he was getting pinned. I was like, man,
00:14:03.520
that's that's very humbling for you to say something like that. One of the most powerful
00:14:07.420
people of all time and the most famous person alive right now. And you're making jokes about
00:14:11.660
yourself. So it just shows the type of person he is. He's just the guy next door that is just a
00:14:17.200
super humble and respectful guy that loves his country and will do anything for it.
00:14:27.360
Just, you know, he's the only president who, you know, he had fear in everybody else.
00:14:32.920
You know, we didn't have any new wars. There was he had peace in the Middle East.
00:14:36.700
I mean, he had Putin shaking his boots. Putin didn't want to lose everything he has in Russia,
00:14:41.280
all the stuff he works for. But it's because he knew President Trump was a tough guy and he
00:14:44.920
didn't mess around. Like if you made any threats in the media or said anything, he would make sure
00:14:49.980
that you're never going to say that again. So, you know, he's a tough guy. He wrestled
00:14:54.220
just the way he made it in this country. He made it through capitalism, through hard work with his
00:15:00.240
bare hands. You know, the American dream, he achieved that just because he had a vision and
00:15:04.300
he put it into action. So not a lot of people can say that most people are bought or paid for.
00:15:09.880
You got a Nazi Pelosi who's using insider trading to get rich. It's sick. There's a lot of treasonous
00:15:15.700
people in this country, but Donald Trump is not one of those.
00:15:19.180
There are a lot of treasonous people in this country.
00:15:26.580
No, I don't worry about it. You know, I put that in the back of my brain. I've gotten hurt many times
00:15:31.600
and I always fight through it every time. So I know I can get through any situation. Doesn't matter
00:15:36.440
if I'm hurt, injured, sick or not, I'm going to keep fighting. And I do it for the love
00:15:40.820
of my country and the love of wanting to have a platform so I can give it back to the people
00:15:48.280
Clearly, fighters try to psych each other out before the fight in public, I notice.
00:15:53.620
What's the, without, you know, giving away your trade secrets, what's the purpose of that,
00:15:59.900
Yeah, it absolutely works. And the process is just to try and get in the psychological
00:16:06.440
part of someone's mind and alter them, make them fight with emotions. Because when you
00:16:11.180
fight with emotions, you're not going to fight the same as if you're in a free state where
00:16:15.140
you can just not think and you can just, you know, do it off of intuition. But if you can
00:16:20.300
get in someone's head and make them super mad where they're just going to abandon their
00:16:23.840
game plan, they just want to, they just want to hurt you. They want to knock you out.
00:16:26.980
Then you're an advantage. But also there's a huge aspect to it too, because it sells pay-per-views
00:16:33.400
and it creates engagement because it makes it so people aren't going to be down the middle.
00:16:37.960
They're either going to hate you or they're going to love you. But that's what you want
00:16:41.020
because even the haters, they're not going to turn the TV to watch Real Housewives of
00:16:45.740
Miami. No, they're going to keep it on UFC because they want to see you lose. But then
00:16:49.320
people that respect you and like you, they're going to keep watching because they want to see
00:16:53.080
you win and they want to see you keep rising. So there's a very important aspect to selling
00:17:02.500
Do people take it personally? You've been pretty tough on some of your opponents, right?
00:17:06.660
Yeah. Yeah. People take it personally. They don't realize like, but it's funny because all
00:17:13.180
the people have taken it personal in the past during the time after their checks cleared their
00:17:18.600
banks, they realize, hey man, I actually appreciate everything you did, Colby. You made me a lot
00:17:24.000
more money otherwise if you would have just been quiet and acted like a mute. But the fact
00:17:29.040
that you were vocal and you made it more animosity-filled for the fight, that made me more money in
00:17:39.020
For attacking me. So what have been the most effective attacks? Give me an example.
00:17:43.760
You're up against somebody next week. What would you say about them?
00:17:47.440
I would just say, you know, you're a soy boy and, you know, there is one guy that he's
00:17:54.140
a legitimate cuck and, you know, I've called him out for that.
00:17:57.680
Can you explain what that means to our audience about that now?
00:18:00.880
Yeah. So a cuck is just someone that, you know, sits in the room and they watch their spouse
00:18:05.720
get sexual arousal from someone else. So, you know, there's people like that out there and,
00:18:12.460
you know, the truth is what always hurts the most.
00:18:19.060
I had found out that this had happened. The girl was selling a book called
00:18:22.700
WAG, which means wife and girlfriend. So she was like promoting that, you know,
00:18:34.440
It shouldn't be allowed. It's pretty nasty behavior.
00:18:41.320
I just said the truth. You know, I said, it's disgusting. You know, you're a cuck and,
00:18:46.100
you know, your wife is a vile lady. You know, she's selling books, promoting being a WAG,
00:18:51.720
you know, and being a wife and a girlfriend. And I'm not going to let the world not notice
00:18:56.980
that. I'm going to bring it to the forefront and I'm going to make sure everybody's talking
00:19:02.120
Was he pretty excited that you pointed out he's a cuck?
00:19:09.360
Yeah. I think he probably wants to settle the differences in the octagon and
00:19:12.600
it just so happens I like to fight in the octagon. So if it needs to happen one day,
00:19:19.980
Oh, so this is not even someone you're scheduled to fight.
00:19:22.640
No, it's not even someone I'm scheduled to fight. It's just someone that's been talking smack in the
00:19:25.980
media, been throwing, you know, some terms around at me and, you know, never done anything or
00:19:30.620
accomplished half of what I've accomplished in this sport. So, you know, I had to give it back
00:19:38.100
It did shut him up, but I have a strong feeling that he'll have something else to say very soon.
00:19:44.180
When that kind of thing happens and it happens in public, does he like text you behind the scenes?
00:19:50.180
No, he doesn't have my number, but I'm sure he's probably trying to figure out like my location
00:19:55.240
or where I'm going to be and he'll probably try and drop me walking out of a poppy stake or something
00:19:59.380
like someone else did in one of my prior fights.
00:20:03.240
Yeah, because he couldn't take the truth. He couldn't handle the truth that I, you know,
00:20:09.020
Wait, wait, slow down. So you, what did you say about this other person?
00:20:13.300
I just said he was a deadbeat dad because he wasn't paying his child support.
00:20:20.120
Yeah, and he was. Wasn't paying child support. Stopped, cut off his communications with his kids.
00:20:25.220
And, you know, then, you know, he didn't like that. He didn't like that I said the truth about him.
00:20:30.660
So, you know, he had to sucker punch me in the back of the head when I walked out of a restaurant.
00:20:45.320
It concussed me pretty bad. And I was like, I was able to get inside and call the cops.
00:20:50.580
And, you know, then he had to deal with the justice system after that.
00:21:05.060
And he'd probably have to pay some fines, I would assume.
00:21:10.560
So you never even saw him coming? You're just walking out of the restaurant?
00:21:13.060
No. Somehow he was able to identify where I was.
00:21:16.040
I was hanging out with my friends, the no boys.
00:21:17.700
And I don't know what happened, but we were walking outside.
00:21:23.240
And he waited in the bushes with, like, a bunch of friends in a ski mask.
00:21:29.680
And we were going to go to another spot to have dinner.
00:21:33.680
And next thing I know, boom, in the back of the head.
00:21:44.620
I beat him up for 25 minutes straight in the UFC octagon.
00:21:47.540
So, of course, he had to do it illegally when I wasn't looking.
00:21:50.220
Because if he looked me in the eyes like a man, he knew he wouldn't be able to do anything to me.
00:21:54.000
But the only way he could do something is if he cheap-shotted me and stalked me like the criminal that he is.
00:22:10.480
Um, I don't think the UFC would sanction that because they just saw how easily I beat him the first time.
00:22:23.900
And so I don't think the UFC would give me an easy matchup like that ever again.
00:22:27.620
UFC likes to make prestigious and high-level fights.
00:22:30.340
They wouldn't want to give me some amateur that's not on my level, you know.
00:22:37.260
And you were friends with this guy before, right?
00:22:45.760
But that's the, you know, that's what this sport does to people.
00:22:49.660
Like, people will sell out their friends for money.
00:22:53.840
So as soon as I started reaching up and getting high in this sport, that's when he took it personal
00:22:59.760
He was like, hey, man, like, we can't be friends.
00:23:02.040
I want money more than I want to be friends with you.
00:23:05.120
Jumping a man outside poppies is not kind of the road to success, though, is it?
00:23:12.880
You know, he's stolen cars in the past, and he's had multiple felony charges.
00:23:17.220
So, you know, it's on brand for the type of person that he is.
00:23:21.240
Are most of the guys who are in the octagon from pretty rough backgrounds?
00:23:23.960
Yeah, a lot of them, there's a lot of misfits, you know, a lot of people that didn't do good
00:23:29.900
in school or just, you know, have rough backgrounds, fought in, you know, unsanctioned fights.
00:23:37.520
You don't see a lot of deep intellect, smart fighters out there, you know, that graduated
00:23:42.020
college and have, you know, these crazy degrees.
00:23:44.720
So most fighters are just troubled kids who just want to get locked in a cage and hurt someone.
00:23:54.780
I was, like, a smaller kid, and I wrestled, so everybody always was like, oh, that's the
00:23:58.620
wrestler, and I was smaller, so they wanted to pick on me and call me out in fights, and
00:24:04.180
And then I remember I got in one fight in the park, and I came home, and my mom's like,
00:24:09.940
If you want to fight, go to the UFC and make money to fight.
00:24:12.640
And that's when, like, the bell rung in my head, and I was like, oh, you're right, Mom,
00:24:16.540
I should just go make this a living and start fighting for...
00:24:22.960
She's the one that, yeah, led me down that path.
00:24:31.780
She loves the overall of the sport, just the adrenaline that it causes and just the atmosphere
00:24:38.220
Is it hard to have a personal life if you're doing this for a living?
00:24:43.780
It is if you want to be successful and be great, because, you know, most people, they
00:24:49.320
They don't understand the commitment that it takes to be a fighter, you know, the diet,
00:24:52.560
the healthy lifestyle, the sacrifices, you know, I can't go out and go drinking with
00:24:56.320
you one night or on a weekend, you know, have drinks at dinner, and that's not realistic
00:25:01.020
for a fighter, you know, I have to eat clean, I have to make sacrifices, I have to go to
00:25:08.640
Most people wouldn't want to hang out with fighters, because it's kind of a boring lifestyle.
00:25:16.740
I try and eat only earth-grown foods, you know, meats, you know, vegetables.
00:25:22.540
You know, I kind of take a lot of my diet from the food pyramid that I learned when I
00:25:26.540
was a kid, and I've just learned over time what works for me.
00:25:29.940
Obviously, what works for me is going to be different than what works for you, but, you
00:25:34.340
know, I think eating healthy, getting at least a gallon of water a day, you know, your body's
00:25:40.720
Your brain's, like, something like that, 40, 50 percent water.
00:25:43.600
So it's important to get high water intake and, you know, just have that healthy diet
00:26:02.060
I'm committed to wanting to be the best fighter in the world and doing whatever it takes to
00:26:07.960
How do you cut the weight and describe what that process is?
00:26:12.240
So the weight cutting thing is pretty much, it's like a sponge effect.
00:26:15.480
Like, you know how a sponge, you squeeze it and all the water comes out?
00:26:19.320
That's kind of like what the diet is because you take out all the salts in your diet.
00:26:23.260
So pretty much in the morning, I'll have eggs, lunch, I'll have chicken, night, I'll
00:26:27.420
have fish, all lean meats, but completely plain.
00:26:33.000
So you're eating these while you're drinking your water.
00:26:39.540
And when you go to run and cut weight, then the water just falls right through you because
00:26:47.500
So it's pretty much just a low carb, high protein, and high water intake diet and no
00:26:58.000
And then you have to fast like the last like 36 hours before weigh-ins.
00:27:11.920
I'm just worried about the weight cut and how I'll feel after.
00:27:14.840
So like how much weight you dropped in the last week?
00:27:34.960
They'll maybe have one meal a day, and then they're doing the same thing where they're
00:27:38.680
not putting any salt in their body for the week, and no sugar, and just high water intake,
00:27:46.180
So then you've got weigh-in, and then how long after that is the fight?
00:27:52.400
So you get about 36 hours to rehydrate and replenish your body before you'll fight the
00:28:03.940
Guzzling water, eating salt, eating a lot of carbs because you've been depriving your body
00:28:08.400
of carbohydrates for a couple weeks because you're high-protein, low-carbs.
00:28:12.300
So a lot of pancakes, a lot of pastas, and yeah, just a lot of different electrolyte drinks
00:28:18.020
to replenish yourself of all that water that you drain your body of.
00:28:36.240
Daniel Cormier was 41 years old, and he was a UFC champion at 41.
00:28:44.020
So, you know, I still got a lot of good years ahead of me, and I feel in my prime right
00:28:52.440
I know I can keep going, but I also realize that I'm more than a fighter, and I have more
00:28:56.860
ambitions in life than just fighting in a cage.
00:28:59.380
So, you know, I want to be the change that I always talked about as a kid in this country.
00:29:10.180
Colby Covington, thank you very much for spending all this time with us.