This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Colby Covington Turns 30
Colby Covington has become one of the most polarizing figures in mixed martial arts, his rise in notoriety coinciding with his emergence as one of the sport’s premier welterweights. The Clovis, California, native will celebrate his 30th birthday on Feb. 22.
Previous to his arriving on the MMA scene, Covington was an accomplished amateur wrestler. He won a national championship at Iowa Central Community College before becoming a two-time Pac-10 conference champion at Oregon State University, where he earned All-America honors in 2011. Operating out of the star-studded American Top Team camp, Covington made his professional MMA debut on Feb. 11, 2012 and won his first nine fights, three of them in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, before submitting to a Warlley Alves guillotine choke at UFC 194. He has since pieced together a five-fight winning streak, pushing his record inside the Octagon to 8-1. Covington last fought at UFC Fight Night 119 in October, when he claimed a unanimous decision from 2007 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships gold medalist Demian Maia.
The aptly named “Chaos” has by design created plenty of enemies with his over-the-top trash talking, which included his referring to Brazilians as “filthy animals.” Prior to a UFC event in Sydney in November, Covington was involved in a highly publicized altercation with former heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum, who hurled a boomerang at him. That resulted in his pressing assault charges against Werdum before going on bizarre public rants about fascism.
Others in MMA celebrating a birthday during the month of February:
FEB. 1
Bill Mahood, 51Igor Pokrajac, 39
Ronda Rousey, 31
Jared Papazian, 30
FEB. 2
Hector Lombard, 40Denis Stojnic, 38
Herbert Burns, 30
Eric Shelton, 27
FEB. 3
Rodrigo Damm, 38Ricardo Tirloni, 35
Phillipe Nover, 34
Eduardo Dantas, 29
FEB. 4
Andrei Arlovski, 39Satoru Kitaoka, 38
Luiz Cane, 37
Yaotzin Meza, 37
FEB. 5
Antoni Hardonk, 42Lyle Beerbohm, 39
Johnny Cisneros, 38
Leonardo Santos, 38
Bubba Jenkins, 30
Joaquim Silva, 29
FEB. 6
Waachiim Spiritwolf, 42Vik Grujic, 41
Shinichi Kojima, 39
Mamoru Nakamura, 37
Andrew Holbrook, 32
Ryan Hollis, 29
Khalil Rountree, 28
FEB. 7
Haruo Ochi, 34Derrick Lewis, 33
T.J. Dillashaw, 32
Lance Palmer, 30
Cesar Avila, 29
Jae Hyun So, 29
FEB. 8
Kevin Ferguson (1974-2016)Yuki Ishikawa, 51
Jaime Jara, 49
Chan Rothana, 32
Syuri Kondo, 29
Pawel Pawlak, 29
FEB. 9
Chris Clements, 42Mark Munoz, 40
Charlie Brenneman, 37
Jake Rosholt, 36
Jake Hecht, 34
Henry Cejudo, 31
Felipe Arantes, 30
FEB. 10
Masakazu Imanari, 42Matt Horwich, 40
Nick Ring, 39
Mariusz Radziszewski, 34
FEB. 11
Evan Tanner (1971-2008)Ken Shamrock, 54
Ali Mokdad, 35
Stephen Thompson, 35
Vagab Vagabov, 32
Andrea Lee, 29
Bec Rawlings, 29
Megan Anderson, 28
FEB. 12
Jon Madsen, 38Tony Ferguson, 34
Joey Miolla, 33
Luke Jumeau, 30
FEB. 13
Elvis Sinosic, 47Anthony Lapsley, 38
Ewerton Teixeira, 36
Daniel Hooker, 28
FEB. 14
Kenny Robertson, 34Micah Miller, 31
Chris Mierzwiak, 30
Jayson Jones, 29
FEB. 15
Brian Rogers, 34Cezar Ferreira, 33
Steven Siler, 31
Ciro Rodrigues, 29
Emiliano Sordi, 27
FEB. 16
Carina Damm, 39Zelg Galesic, 39
Mark Eddiva, 32
Vladimir Mineev, 28
Mirsad Bektic, 27
FEB. 17
Brett Rogers, 37Will Ribeiro, 35
Carrington Banks, 29
Anatoly Tokov, 28
FEB. 18
Jimi Manuwa, 38Marvin Blumer, 36
Melvin Blumer, 36
Joseph Duffy, 30
Fabiano Silva da Conceicao, 30
Stefan Struve, 30
Curtis Blaydes, 27
FEB. 19
Chad Leonhardt, 38Ben Alloway, 37
Liz Carmouche, 34
Nam Jin Jo, 27
FEB. 20
Antonio Inoki, 75Rousimar Palhares, 38
Tim Means, 34
Derek Anderson, 28
Damian Stasiak, 28
FEB. 21
Chris Kelades, 37Paul Daley, 35
Alex Oliveira, 30
Roman Salazar, 30
Brian Ortega, 27
FEB. 22
Gregor Herb, 40Edgar Garcia, 34
Colby Covington, 30
Kuat Khamitov, 30
FEB. 23
Ruan Potts, 40Gina Begley, 37
James Vick, 31
Olivier Aubin-Mercier, 29
Mike Hofer, 28
FEB. 24
Andre Roberts, 53Bas Rutten, 53
Jon Fitch, 40
Fernando Bruno, 36
Jan Blachowicz, 35
FEB. 25
Kelly Kobald, 35Ron Stallings, 35
Jacob McClintock, 30
Rachael Ostovich, 27
FEB. 26
John Lober, 50T.J. Grant, 34
Jeff Lentz, 29
Reant Febriza Rainir, 29
FEB. 27
Michael Knaap, 34Antonio Castillo Jr., 31
Misha Cirkunov, 31
Thibault Gouti, 31
Sean Strickland, 27
FEB. 28
Jorge Rivera, 46Michael Bisping, 39
Jarod Trice, 29
Glaico Franca, 27
FEB. 29
Jim Yorke, 42Francimar Barroso, 38
Patrick Cote, 38
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