Colby Covington (photo via ESPN / YouTube)

By FCF Staff

Following Colby Covington’s impressive win over Tyron Woodley at UFC Vegas 11, the former welterweight interim champ was called by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Covington outscored Woodley throughout much of the bout with his wrestling and strikes, before the former champ sustained a rib injury in round five and the fight was stopped. While being interviewed by ESPN afterward, Covington was called by President Trump (quotes via MMA Fighting).

“You are a great fighter,” the U.S. President said to Covington, who has been a vocal supporter. “You make it look so easy. I don’t know how you do it. Congratulations, I wanted to watch that fight tonight. You were great.”

“That was easy work, relatively easy work. I’m proud of you,” Trump said. “I just made a big speech, I had 35,000 people, I said I want to get home now to watch Colby. That was fast work.

“I’m proud of you. I’m a big fan and I’m proud of you. You’re tough. You are something. I appreciated the shout out tonight, too. I’m your fan, you’re my fan. Two of a kind.”

Covington also had a heated exchange with champion Kamaru Usman during ESPN’s post-fight show, who stopped “Chaos” last December.

During the interview, Covington said the following to the Nigerian born fighter (quote via MMA Mania).

“Marty Fakenewsman, you got so lucky that last time, you know what happened two days before,” Covington said. “That was the worst fight of my life. That was my worst night and that was your best night. Wait til the next time I see you, there ain’t gonna be no cheap shots, you’re not going to be able to call fake nut shots, you’re not going to call fake eye pokes and get ten minutes of time outs and get a fake stoppage. I’m coming for you again. You know who was winning that last fight. You’re on borrowed time, this is my time, I’m getting my belt back.”

“You’re so soft, you’re soy boy soft. You’re so soft! Who did you get a call from? You get a call from, frickin’, your little tribe? They give you some smoke signals for you? You’re a joke, Marty Fakenewsman. Newsflash: you’re a joke. You’re fake news, no one cares about you. You’re pathetic. You got the worst decision in the history of the sport. So many bad calls against me.”

Some observers have accused Covington of making racist statements, on account of the “tribe” and “smoke signals” references.

Usman is scheduled to fight Gilbert Burns on December 12th at UFC 256.