Colby Covington's gimmick is a familiar one, but can you deny that it works?

Shortly after dodging flying refuse on his way out of Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo on Saturday night, Colby Covington paused to reflect on the experience.

“I enjoyed it,” Covington (13-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) said. “I had a great time out there. It was a lot of fun.”

By “it,” he meant not only the thrashing of recent welterweight title challenger Demian Maia (25-8 MMA, 19-8 UFC) in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 119, but also everything that came after, including when he told about 10,000 Brazilians that they were “filthy animals” and their nation was a “dump.”

As if on cue, the locals began looking around for trash to dispose of – you know, clean the place up a little bit – and there was Covington, on his way backstage anyway, so apparently they all had the same idea to give their unwanted beer receptacles to him as he passed by surrounded by security staff.

If you’re running the kind of game Covington is, that kind of anger is a good thing. It’s a sign that your gimmick is working. And if you’re going to work the obnoxious, disdainful foreigner gimmick, there’s no better place to do it than Brazil, where the fans chant about your impending death just as a pre-fight tradition.

This is not new. Covington is borrowing from Chael Sonnen the same gimmick that Sonnen borrowed from the pro-wrestling canon. Roll into a new city, insult the local heroes and/or sports teams, disparage the infrastructure, maybe imply that the current populace is the result of some unfortunate mutation, then close your eyes and let the boos wash over you. Congratulations, you’re a villain now.

It’s not hard to do. You can tell because Covington isn’t even doing a great job of it – his version is a knock-off of a knock-off – but still it works. It’s easier to make people hate you than it is to make them love you, and in the end it may be a more reliable revenue stream.

The good guy has a lot of ways to fall from grace. All the bad guy has to do is stay unrepentantly hateable while making sure not to get caught perpetrating any acts of honesty or kindness.

But it comes at a price, this type of notoriety. If you’re a pro wrestler, sure, you can call the locals sweathogs and whip them into a fine froth, and it just means you’re doing your job. You don’t even have to do it under your real name, which simplifies the process when you want to take off the mask once you get home.

Pro fighters don’t get that luxury. Here, calling a room full of Brazilians a bunch of ugly names earns you not only some quick heat, but also a “review” from the UFC. If you train with a bunch of Brazilians, as Covington does, it can also make things awkward back in the gym, especially when the giant Brazilian dude decides he wants to teach you some respect.

Real life people get mad at the real life you, and it doesn’t always placate them to explain that it was all a means to an end.

At the same time, how can anyone say it isn’t working? On a mediocre UFC Fight Night card, Covington made himself the story. Even while admitting that his whole goal was to hype a fight (pro tip: that’s the subtext, bro – you’re not supposed to say it out loud), he stole headlines and injected himself into the welterweight title picture, all with a unanimous-decision win that was by no means spectacular.

Just look around. Derek Brunson knocked a former champion out cold, a feat for which he will receive a few fleeting attaboys. Covington chipped steadily away at a longtime contender and won the fight on the scorecards, but he forced fans to feel some way about him while also putting his name in the champion’s mouth.

For a paint-by-numbers approach to self-hype that is as obvious as it is ancient, those are some pretty good results.

Those are the benefits of playing the villain, which is easy enough. Now comes the hard part. Now Covington has to go home and live as the villain. And once you start down that path, the only way out is through.

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