Colby Covington recounts in his experience in Brazil after controversial post-fight comments

Colby Covington had a wild time in Brazil. Moments after his unanimous decision win over Demian Maia was announced, the red-hot welterweight went off on the country, calling it a “a dump” and referring to its citizens as “filthy animals.”

Unsurprisingly, the people of Brazil weren’t happy with Covington’s remarks. The UFC, meanwhile immediately feared for his safety. As such, he was apparently put on “lockdown” from the moment these comments left his mouth until he reached the airport.

“I had my suit ready,” Covington said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, explaining that he was ready to attend the post-fight press conference. “I was all dressed up, ready to go. But then [UFC official] Reed [Harris] put me in the van. He was like, ‘Hey, we’ve gotta get you out of here. We don’t know if it’s safe for you to be here.’ They either pulled me for two reasons. They either pulled me because they thought it was dangerous and they didn’t know if it would be good. Or they pulled me because they thought I was gonna say more controversial comments about Brazil.”

“We went in through the negative levels,” Covington continued, discussing his stealth mission back to his hotel room. “They guarded me up the elevator. They wouldn’t let anybody else on the elevator. We ducked so no one sees us over the balcony. We walked back to our room. I’m in my room on lockdown.”

“I was a little nervous. I can’t lie. I’m not gonna come lie to you today. I’m not a liar, I’m a truth teller.”

Covington then offered some insight as to why he spoke the way he did.

“I just didn’t like how they treated me when I was in the tunnel before the walkout to the fight,” he said. “I’m sitting in the tunnel and they’re yelling all these things. ‘Oh, I f*cked your mom,’ this and that. Stuff about me, ‘Oh, you’re gonna die.’ Throwing cups and stuff and hot dogs.”

“You need to respect me,” he added. “I’m going into a fight, this is professionals. So, I just felt disrespected by them. I didn’t say anything that was too outlandish.”

“With the way they treat people over there, you can’t do that over in Canada, Ariel. You can’t do that in the USA. You won’t hear whole crowds doing stuff like that and the things they do. So, I don’t think I crossed any line. America.”

Colby Covington then explained that, going forward, he’s willing to fight anywhere the UFC sets up shop, but he doesn’t expect to be invited back to Brazil.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 10/31/2017.