Colby Covington

Fighting out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, Colby Covington, 31, was one of the winners at “UFC on ESPN 5.” It was his 10th victory in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Born in Clovis, California, USA on February 22, 1988, Covington went to Thurston High School and Iowa Central Community where he both competed as a wrestler. As a mixed martial artist, he has been competing professionally since 2012.

“UFC on ESPN 5” marked Covington’s 11th UFC bout. The first nine opponents he defeated in the promotion were “Smiley” Wang Anying, 28, of China, Wagner “Wagnão” Silva, 32, of Brazil, Mike “Quicksand” Pyle, 43, of the U.S., Jonathan “District” Meunier, 32, of Canada, Max “Pain” Griffin, 33, of the U.S., Bryan “Bam Bam” Barberena, 30, of the U.S., Dong Hyun ” Stun Gun” Kim, 37, of South Korea, Demian Maia, 41, of Brazil and Rafael “RDA” dos Anjos, 34, of Brazil.

Featuring 12 MMA bouts, “UFC on ESPN 5” took place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, United States on August 3, 2019. In the main event of the evening, Covington competed in the welterweight division against his former American Top Team teammate Robbie “Ruthless” Lawler, 37, of Coconut Creek, Florida with Keith Peterson as the referee.

After five five-minute rounds, the welterweight bout was left in the hands of the judges who scored it 50-44, 50-45 and 50-45. In the end, Peterson raised the hand of Covington, who was declared the winner via unanimous decision.

“It wasn’t even competitive tonight,” Covington said in his post-fight interview. “I’m on a different level.”

Winning at “UFC on ESPN 5” improved Covington’s professional MMA record to 15 wins and 1 loss. On the other hand, Lawler now has 28 wins and 14 losses.

Including the U.S., 11 countries were represented at “UFC on ESPN 2.” The others were Afghanistan, Brazil, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Peru, Poland, Serbia and South Korea.

Covington and Lawler were among the 15 representatives of the U.S. After their bout, the former received a congratulatory phone call from U.S. president Donald Trump.

Here is Covington and his phone call conversation with Trump: