Colby Covington believes it’s time for more of the UFC’s biggest names to speak out about fighter pay.
The former interim welterweight champion has become one of several fighters voicing concerns about pay in the sport’s top promotion this year.
While Ronda Rousey has been vocal about her issues with the UFC model after being denied a comeback earlier this year, Covington has his own reasons for speaking out.
However, he doesn’t expect the promotion’s highest earners to join him any time soon.
Colby Covington doubts UFC Stars will speak out about pay issues
Covington is frustrated about UFC White House and his absence from the national celebration in Washington D.C. this June.
Bo Nickal has claimed he turned down a fight there, but ‘Chaos’ says he was never offered anything and has been frozen out of opportunities since losing to Joaquin Buckley in December 2024.
That anger has resulted in Covington slamming the UFC over fighter pay, but he believes silent stars like Khabib Nurmagomedov, Islam Makhachev, and Ilia Topuria will never speak up as required for there to be real change.
“The thing is that those guys who make the biggest influence, have the biggest platforms, like Ilia, like Makhachev, like Khabib, those guys are getting paid well, they are never going to speak out against the UFC,” Covington said during a recent live stream with N3on.
“They do get paid well. Those guys are making $5 million a fight. $5-10 million, yeah,” he added.
Some have raised doubts about Rousey’s efforts around pay issues by noting she only started speaking up after her proposed return was turned away by the organisation.
The same criticism could be aimed at Covington, who had previously been one of the most vocal supporters of the promotion until his current standoff. He now expects his time with the organisation to be winding down and says there’s little reason for him not to speak out anymore.
Covington expects that after his MMA career ends, he’ll spend much more time competing in Real American Freestyle matches instead.
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