It got heated backstage between Colby
Covington and Paddy Pimblett at
#UFC314 👀 pic.twitter.com/4ag6DQ1uEK— ESPN MMA (@espnmma)
April 13, 2025
After earning the biggest win of his career to date, Paddy
Pimblett found himself in a confrontation with an outspoken
critic from another weight class.
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As Pimblett was conducting an interview backstage at the Kaseya
Center in Miami, he was approached by
UFC welterweight Colby
Covington, who blasted the Englishman’s level of competition in
the Octagon.
“You’re fighting scrubs,” Covington said in a video captured by
ESPN. “Guys who are 2-6. You’re a bum. You beat guys who are 2-6,
remember that. Remember that, you’re a scrub. … You’re a
fraud.”
Pimblett secured his seventh straight triumph on Saturday night,
defeating Michael
Chandler via third-round technical knockout in the UFC
314 co-main event. After the victory, “The Baddy” targeted
matchups against the likes of Charles
Oliveira, Justin
Gaethje and Arman
Tsarukyan — all fighters near the top of the lightweight
division. He appeared to be most interested in a showdown with
Oliveira, a former 155-pound champ and the promotion’s all-time
submission leader.
Exactly where Covington fits in that picture is unclear. The former
welterweight title challenger has lost three of his last four
Octagon appearances and is coming off a third-round doctor stoppage
loss to Joaquin
Buckley at UFC on ESPN 63 this past December.
During the ESPN post-fight show, Pimblett indicated that
Covington’s tirade was all for show.
“Oh yeah, this little maggot,” Pimblett said. “He only does
something when there’s a camera about. I’ve seen him at Power Slap
the other week and walked past him staring at him and he looked at
the floor like that. Now, he knows there’s a camera about. He
walked past, so I just said, ‘Lad, I’ll come and slap you, but
you’ll go and ring the police on me like you did with [Jorge]
Masvidal, you little grass [snitch].
While it’s possible that Covington could be angling for a fight
against Pimblett, the former Cage Warriors title holder is more
concerned about climbing the ladder in the UFC’s lightweight
division.
“He can eat s—t. He pays supermodels to stand with him, the f—ing
bum. He’s a nobody,” Pimblett said. “He’s on a three-fight losing
streak or something, he’s irrelevant. He’s trying to use me now to
stay relevant because he’s a nobody, he’s a bum. I’d beat Colby
Covington for a laugh, but I’ve got bigger fish to fry than
that little mushroom.”