Covington Bans ‘Uncle Fester’ From Belt Ceremony

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President, Dana White, has long been responsible for wrapping the championship belt around the waist of whoever wins a division title in their respective weight class.

A tradition that is starting to lose some of its appeal.

Reigning UFC heavyweight champion, Stipe Miocic, will not allow White to award him the 265-pound strap after a rocky history with the Las Vegas fight boss. And now it appears top welterweight contender, Colby Covington, will follow suit.

“Everybody knows I ain’t got nothing to say to Uncle Fester,” Covington said (transcribed by MMA Junkie. “He’s not going to wrap that belt on Saturday night. I promise you that. It was tradition until they did the ‘Broken Mediocre Fighting’ championship in New York, and they gave away that Bernie Sanders participation trophy, and they let The Rock put it on ‘Journeyman Jorge.’ So, I want Candice Owens to put it around my waist on Saturday night.”

Covington is fighting current UFC welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman, in the UFC 245 pay-per-view (PPV) main event, scheduled for five rounds this Sat. night (Dec. 14, 2019) inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Like Miocic, Covington has a laundry list of grievances following his contract negotiations, which got so bad at one point, White canceled the Usman fight, previously scheduled for UFC 244 in New York. I almost want to root for “Chaos” now just to see what happens after the fight.

Almost.