UFC Tampa, The Morning After: Aging Covington Lining Up WWE Retirement?

UFC Tampa was not a pleasant evening for Colby Covington.

Despite a star-studded corner crew featuring Hulk Hogan and Chael Sonnen, “Chaos” got the absolute pulp beaten out of him by Joaquin Buckley. “New Mansa” — six years Covington’s junior — shucked off his foe’s takedown attempts and landed power punches-in-bunches. In less than 15 minutes, Covington’s eyelid was nearly floating away, his ribs were bruised, and his lead leg looked a bit crooked.

It’s going to be an achy Christmas and tender New Year in the “Chaos” household.

‘That Fight Doesn’t Get Stopped In Vegas’

The obvious question is what’s next? How does Covington play off this loss? It’s tough to play the “I’m better than everyone else” role when you get your ass beat in consecutive fights. Sure, Covington can do his best to label the cageside doctor a liberal hater intent on destroying America, but anybody with eyes knows the Buckley was the better man here and that the cut stoppage was fully justified.

Whether Covington continues to commit to the bit or not, the man himself knows the truth. At 36 years of age, he’s not elite anymore. Covington was once one of the best Welterweights alive, and now he isn’t. That’s the natural order of combat sports, and every athlete has to decide what’s next when this sort of realization hits them.

I’ve joked many times that an MMA career is just the world’s longest path to becoming a police officer or real estate agent, but Covington seems to lining himself up in a different angle. “Chaos” is definitely angling for a move to the world of professional wrestling. In fact, he’s been talking about it since 2019, and the timing is starting to make sense.

Biggest Winners, Loser From UFC Tampa

Donald Trump is president, so there’s no need to campaign. Covington is no longer elite, so there’s no need to fight. Why not try to crossover into the WWE and score a paycheck? Covington is a natural heel — obviously — and has already received co-signs from Kurt Angle and Hulk Hogan in one form or another.

It’s not likely to last, of course. Covington has repeatedly proven himself to not be a great speaker, which is a significant portion of what’s required in professional wrestling. There’s also the simple fact that pro wrestling is really difficult. A lot of MMA fighters try to crossover, and few last particularly long.

Somehow, I doubt Covington will be overly upset if his eventual pro wrestling career is short-lived. If he can pull a few bucks from the WWE, that’s more infamy to help line up an awful Jorge Masvidal boxing rematch on the undercard of some Jake Paul card. Or maybe in a couple years he’ll manage to latch himself onto the campaign of Ron DeSantis or one of the Trump children.

Who knows? Covington has positioned himself to do more with his post-elite period than most on the UFC roster. As such, I wouldn’t expect all that many more fights from “Chaos,” who seems primed to chase greener pastures in the near future.