Colby Covington is a man of the people.

The brash-talking UFC welterweight made headlines recently when he exploded on Dana White and the rest of the UFC for passing him up for a title shot a second time, going so far as to even dare the UFC to release him. And while that doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon, neither does Covington kowtowing to the UFC Brass.

Speaking recently with BJPenn Radio, Covington dug his heels in, saying that he has no intention of changing his position and that he’s standing up to the UFC for all the rest of the fighters who are unable to do so.

“I haven’t heard anything from them and I don’t got anything to say to them,” Covington said. “They know where I stand and they’re not going to get anything out of me ’cause I’m standing my ground, I’m standing up for all the fighters that don’t have a f*cking platform, that can’t stand up against the UFC and have to take everything the UFC gives them. All the sh*t the UFC gives them, f*cks all the fighters on the pay and just expects you to do things on a drop of a dime when they want it. All these fighters are yes-men, I’m not a yes-man. I don’t do things. When the UFC says to jump I don’t say ‘how high?’ I’m not that guy.

“The UFC knows where I stand and I’m standing up for what’s right. People can hate me, they can love me, but you know I’m standing up for what I believe in and what I earned and was promised. In life you can only stand by your word and you gotta have big balls in life and that’s what I got.”

The entire Covington ordeal has come out of left field. A solid welterweight prospect a few years ago, Covington then embraced his inner Chael Sonnen, and started talking copious amounts of trash to nearly everyone in the welterweight division. It worked, propelling “Chaos” up the 170 pound ladder with a few pivotal wins, eventually earning him an interim title and a fight with undisputed champion Tyron Woodley. Woodley was more than game and the UFC suddenly had on its hands a seemingly highly marketable fight. But then, when Covington was unready to fight on the UFC’s timeline last year, they passed him over to give Darren Till a title shot and just a few months ago they did so again, this time in favor of Kamaru Usman. This was too much of an injustice for Covington and though he wouldn’t be against this being a rallying point for fighters, he says he’s more than ready to take on the big machine solo because he knows his own worth and the UFC won’t push him around.

“A lot of these fighters, they’re scared, they’re not gonna do that,” Covington said. “So if I’m a one-man army, that’s cool. I don’t give a shit. I’m a self made man. I never relied on the UFC for anything. I did this all on my own. I called my own shots, I got myself to the White House. . .

“[This is] just really a, ‘I don’t give a f*ck’ to them. I’m putting the birds up and that’s it. This is a f*cking dick flexing competition and a muscle flexing competition. That’s all it is. They’re trying to think that they have the power but they don’t have the f*cking power. Any other fighter, okay, yeah, you have the power. But in my situation - where I won a UFC title, the highest honor in your company, I went to the White House, the only fighter ever to do that, I’m undefeated, I’ve never been beaten, no one can touch me - they can’t f*cking outflex me. I can go somewhere else. I could give a f*ck about them. They don’t mean sh*t to me anymore. I know my worth. I know I’m valuable and they know I’m valuable. They’re not gonna do sh*t. I can say whatever I want and I’m gonna do whatever the f*ck I want.”

Covington has not competed since winning his interim title against Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 225. He was stripped of the belt a few months later when Woodley defended his title against Darren Till and White has blamed the entire ordeal on Covington, saying that fighters should take opportunities when offered instead of trying to leverage the UFC. But Covington isn’t having any of it and says he’s ready for the long haul.

“They can try and freeze me out, try and do whatever they want, but Dan Lambert’s one of the richest, most powerful people in the world, so you can’t keep that guy down,” Covington concluded. “It’s impossible. So we will rise up and we will be back, mark my words.”

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VIDEO STEW

The MMA Hour.

Fight Motion.

Bellator Countdown.

Maycee Barber already preparing for Nashville.

History of the UFC’s flyweight division.

LISTEN UP

Anik & Florian. Discussing UFC’s ESPN debut and Henry Cejudo’s big win.

The Co-Main Event. Recapping all the action from UFC Brooklyn, plus listener mail.

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Cejudo.

Farewell.

Matt Brown ain’t done yet.

Throwing shade.

Call out.

New blood coming in.

Well, there’s a story.

Zach and Slater rolling.

Not bad at all.

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Gian Villante (17-10) vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk (12-2); UFC Prague, Feb. 23.

Philip De Fries (16-6, 1 NC) vs. Tomasz Narkun (16-2); KSW 47, March 23.

FINAL THOUGHTS

How long before Colby, like TJ, gets what he wants and completely abandons any pretense of caring about other fighters? My estimate is 4 months.

Thanks for reading, and see y’all tomorrow.

EXIT POLL

If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let him know about it! Also follow MMAFighting on Instagram, and like us on Facebook!