With December almost upon us, many of us are settling into the Holiday Season. Before Christmas and the New Year rolls around, we have Thanksgiving – a holiday celebrating a brief period of peace between English settlers and the Wampanoag native Americans back in 1621. Thanksgiving is also a holiday to celebrate the blessings of harvest, and to give thanks to the preceding year. With the MMA community hunkering down for the winter in a festive mood, it seems like they’ve taken the opportunity to pardon Colby Covington for his foul mouth and losses to champions despite repeated attempts at winning the title.

The͏ former ͏i͏nterim ͏w͏el͏ter͏wei͏ght ͏cha͏mpi͏on has been one of the most controversial figures in the fighting world owing to his unhinged rants toward his opponents, and fighters across several divisions. ‘Chaos’ finds himself being called out repeatedly for his words by the MMA community, and this was especially true in the lead-up to his fight against former champion Leon Edwards. At the UFC 296 pre-fight press conference, ‘Chaos’ took his thrash talk a bit far when he stated, “I’m bringing you to the seventh layer of hell. We’ll say ‘what’s up’ to your dad while we’re there.” Edwards’ father was unalived in gang-related violence when ‘Rocky’ was just 13.

We all know that Covington plays a character, but this seemed a tad bit too much even for the most rabid of ‘Chaos’ fans. While he took the opportunity to apologize to Edwards at the ceremonial weigh-ins of their fight, claiming that he was ‘in character’, his reputation took a massive hit when he failed to beat Leon Edwards at UFC 296. That was in December 2023, and it’s been almost exactly a year since Covington last fought. Between then and now, ‘Chaos’ has been the subject of much ridicule for issuing scathing remarks towards Ian Garry, but not signing the contract to fight him.

The latest from Colby Covington isn’t his usual mouthing off on social media, but an acknowledgment of the American holiday, with an American icon. The former interim lightweight champion took to his Instagram handle to add a photo of him alongside Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone at Donald Trump’s premium estate Mar-A-Lago. He uploaded two photos with the Hollywood star and captioned it as, “Happy Thanksgiving from Mar-a-Lago  @officialslystallone.” As he uploaded this photo, the MMA community responded positively, seemingly forgetting that they had once denigrated the former interim welterweight champion.

Fans react to Colby Covington’s Thanksgiving post

A year off from fighting seemed to take Covington out of public scrutiny, as seen in his latest post. His appearance with Stallone at Trump’s Thanksgiving dinner seemed to have warmed fans’ hearts as they posted comments like “The duo we needed to see” and “Love this pic”.

Colby Covington has always touted himself as a ‘True American’, vocally rallying behind US President Donald Trump, and now fans are loving his association with one of the most legendary actors in Hollywood cinema. Acknowledging the two, fans left comments such as “Two of the great one” and “2 champs 1 pic” . The last comment, of course, alludes to what both personalities are known for, i.e., fighting. For Covington, fighting is real life, and for Stallone, it was ‘reel life’ owing to his portrayal of the fictional boxer Rocky Balboa.

Another fan even stated “Legends” status for both of them. More appreciation for the duo came in the form of acknowledgment for all they’d done in their respective domains, with comments like “Legends” and “Legendary”. Last but not least, a fan stated, “I’ll be there December 14th in Tampa Colby you better win!“, highlighting Covington’s upcoming fight on December 14th.

Colby Covington will appear in his 22nd MMA fight against Joaquin Buckley, this December at UFC on ESPN 63 or UFC Tampa, as it’s being popularly touted. The bout was initially supposed to be contested between Ian Garry and Joaquin Buckley, but the former got relegated to fighting Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310.

With these fights being in place, who do you think will win between Covington and Buckley? Will ‘Chaos’ be able to mount his signature pressure-heavy wrestling style, or will ‘New Mansa’ catch him with a big shot and put his lights out? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.