Colby Covington calls Brazilians 'filthy animals,' vows to stop champ Tyron Woodley in 3 rounds after UFC-Sao Paulo

Although Colby Covington has been building a heel status over his past several fights, he may officially have taken the title as most hated fighter in the sport after his victory over Demian Maia at UFC Fight Night 119.

Covington (13-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) picked up the biggest win of his career on Saturday when he defeated Maia (25-8 MMA, 19-8 UFC) by unanimous decision in their FS1-televised welterweight co-main event at Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo. He made nearly everyone forget about the fight itself afterward, though, because went on a passionate speech directed at the Brazilian audience and UFC champ Tyron Woodley (18-3-1 MMA, 8-2-1 UFC).

After causing the Brazilian fans to shower him with boos and trash by calling them “filthy animals” and declaring the country a “dump,” Covington set his focus spot on Woodley, and his words were far from kind.

“It wasn’t my best performance – I’ll have better performances, but I’m saving my best performance against Tyron Woodley,” Covington said on UFC Fight Night 119’s post-fight show on FS1. “Tyron Woodley, deep down inside I know you know what happened to you last time we were in the gym: I know you’ve been running from me, you’re ducking me, you’re looking for money fights. You ain’t a money fight, (expletive). I’m coming to your front door and if you ain’t answering, I’m coming to take what’s mine: the welterweight title.”

Covington has been making noise about Woodley throughout his current five-fight UFC winning streak. He’s repeatedly mentioned a previous training session he had with “The Chosen One” at American Top Team, revealing that he got the best of the champ in the training room.

Although Woodley has a different version of events, “Chaos” is apparently extremely confidence he could duplicate his claims of what happened in a UFC title bout. He eve went as far as to make the bold prediction of exactly how he would beat Woodley.

“I will finish Tyron Woodley inside three rounds,” Covington said. “We were supposed to go five rounds, I finished him inside three rounds. He said, ‘I’m not going no more.’ He didn’t like the pace. Look at how he fights. He backs up, he’s scared to fight, he fights conservative. I will finish him. He will break inside that octagon. He will quit in there. I promise you that.”

With the next title shot already promised to the winner of December’s UFC on FOX 26 main event between Robbie Lawler and Rafael dos Anjos, it remains to be seen where Covington will go after beating Maia. He said he should be the No. 1 contender, but UFC exec Dave Shaw revealed after UFC Fight Night 119 that the fighter could be facing disciplinary measures for his conduct after the bout.

Despite that, Covington doesn’t appear to have any regrets over his comments.

“I came here to retire Demian Maia and finish him,” Covington said. “After that, I don’t think he is coming back, so I am happy with that. The crowd reaction was what I was looking for, they hate me and I don’t respect them. They don’t need to translate what I said because I was talking to America, where my fans support me.”

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 119, check out the UFC Events section of the site.