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MMA

01st Mar 2019

Colby Covington confronts Dana White in casino over title shot snub

Jack O'Toole

UFC interim lightweight champion Colby Covington confronted UFC President Dana White over his welterweight title shot snub.

Kamaru Usman will fight reigning champion Tyron Woodley for the welterweight title in the co-main event of UFC 235 on Saturday with Covington sitting out this weekend despite winning the interim lightweight title against Rafael dos Anjos last summer.

Covington crashed Usman’s open workout on Friday to hurl abuse at the challenger and then went to confront UFC President Dana White about why he didn’t get a title shot in a video he filmed on his Instagram account.

White said at a UFC Brooklyn pre-fight press conference in January that Covington had been offered the fight but ultimately turned down the opportunity.

“When opportunities pop up, take ’em. When opportunity knocks, answer the door. Period, end of story,” White told an MMAjunkie representative at the event.

“You can ask anybody who’s been on this stage for a long time, when we call, if you take the fight, you take the fight. And if you don’t, other people will.

“That’s how this thing goes. It keeps rolling,” he added. “When we call and we make an offer, you take it. He didn’t.”