Midnight Mania! Colby Cancels ‘Racist’ Belal Over ‘White’ Comment

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Strange as it may be to say, the biggest winner of UFC 286 might just be Colby Covington.

Since allegedly getting sucker punched by former foe Jorge Masvidal, Covington has been uncharacteristically quiet on the sidelines for about a year. Then, out of nowhere, he shows up at UFC 286, makes a major splash by weighing in as the main event back up, and his old rival Kamaru Usman doesn’t win back the belt. Leon Edwards is the confirmed champion, and immediately after his win, UFC President Dana White announces “Chaos” will get the next title shot.

Numerous fighters have spoken up against this decision, including the current champion. However, nobody seems to be quite as annoyed as Belal Muhammad, winner of eight of his last nine fights and debatably the best win streak at 170 lbs. He’s been consistently unloading on Covington ever since the announcement, and in one since deleted tweet, he brought up Covington’s ethnicity as the reasoning behind his title shot.

“He’s white,” Muhammad explained simply.

It hasn’t taken Covington long to respond. Speaking with James Lynch, Covington tore into Muhammad, declaring him “racist” and “disgusting.”

“I’m not going to pick some kid up that is on the bottom of the prelims. You got to earn your way up here and that guy is racist, man,” Covington said (via Cole Shelton). “He was saying the only reason that happened is because I’m white. How is that not racist? That is disgusting. That is despicable, that is f—king disgusting, man. I would never say that and use someone’s color of their skin by that’s why they got that done. Disgusting, man. He should literally be fined and kicked out of the UFC.”

When asked what the situation would be like if the roles were reversed, Covington continued, “Oh my gosh, honestly, I can’t even imagine. Everything I worked my entire life for would be sunken, my ship would be sunken. That would be the end of Colby ‘Chaos’ Covington. But, I would never say something so stupid because it has nothing to do with that ever. I don’t care what color skin you are, man, I look at the integrity inside your heart and the person that you are. I look at other things, how smart you are. It’s just disgusting, man.”

Insomnia

RIP One Championship Lightweight Iuri Lapicus.

Dan Hardy eloquently takes down Power Slap:

This Grand Theft Auto-style promotional poster for UFC 287 is pretty rad!

Apparently, Rafael Fiziev is not the most popular fighter in his home country of Kyrgyzstan.

Absolutely top-tier Marvin Vettori moment:

Ciryl Gane responds to the critics and is hitting the jiu-jitsu mats!

Shadowboxing in a scenic locale!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Former UFC Bantamweight Teruto Ishihara has now won two in a row on the regional scene.

The slam remains the best answer in MMA to the buggy choke.

I’ve trained quite a bit with Billy Brand over the years, and his ability to stand right in your face without getting hit is really annoying!

Random Land

Micro fungi.

Midnight Music: Jesse Holland came through with tonight’s song.

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.