Colby Covington not fully retired, open to return if UFC offers right fight

Colby Covington may not be all done in MMA.

Despite announcing his retirement in May, the former UFC title challenger is still leaving the door open for another go in the octagon. Covington revealed to MMA Junkie that the main reason he retired was so he could aggressively pursue his wrestling career in Real American Freestyle – something he couldn't do as an active UFC fighter.

Covington is 4-0 under RAF and recently claimed the inaugural RAF Cruiserweight Crossover Championship with a win over top UFC lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan.

"I'm technically retired, technically, but that was just the red proverbial tape I needed to get by so I could get the biggest matchups in RAF," Covington told MMA Junkie. "Everybody knows my first love and passion was always wrestling. My dad got me into wrestling as a kid; it was a family business. He wrestled his whole life. His family, his dad wrestled, so I was just following in the lineage of the generations, following the family tree in the wrestling business. It was always my first true love and passion."

Covington's retirement from MMA might've surprised some, as he was looking to fight at the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House in June. But with him not getting a spot on the card and not seeing interesting matchups outside of fighting at the White House, Covington just thought it would make more sense to focus on RAF, where he's also an investor.

"I wasn't getting any fights in the UFC," Covington said. "They weren't really offering me the fights that I want. I didn't get on the White House card. I really wanted to be on the White House card; I would have done anything to be on that card and would have fought anybody. I would have fought a heavyweight. It didn't matter. I just wanted to compete there in front of the greatest president of all time, Donald Trump, but it never transpired. So, you know, I don't think that I'm technically retired, but it's just what needed to happen so I could wrestle guys like Arman, so I could wrestle guys like Belal (Muhammad), so I could wrestle guys like (Kamaru) Usman, so I could wrestle all these big marquee matchups in RAF and get back to my first true love and passion, which is wrestling.

"So I don't know, maybe I come back for a fight. I wouldn't say I'm fully retired. Everybody keeps saying, 'Oh, he's retired.' You must not see what I'm doing in RAF. I'm smoking, dudes. I just beat the number one contender in lightweight and that was light work. I made it look easy ... I'm still in my prime. I'm still taking good care of my body and my brain, so I wouldn't say the door is fully closed and I'm retired. I would just say that we're on a temporary break as I pursue my interest and first love and passion for wrestling at the RAF."

Just as Covington is not committing to retirement, he's also not committing to fighting again. He thinks never setting foot in the octagon is a possibility, and he's fine with that. Covington won an interim UFC title and challenged for the undisputed title three times. He's at peace with what he's done in the sport.

"Yeah, how could I not be at peace? I reached the mountaintop," Covington said. "Not a lot of people are ever going to win a world title in the UFC. You want to call it an interim title? Whatever. The active champion, I ended up beating his ass and leaving him on a stretcher, so I was the champion. People know I was the undisputed champion. I reached the mountaintop. I did it all. At what point do you need to walk away? At what point are you just going to keep taking punches and keep coming back to fight?

"I was never going to be one of those guys that was going to fight in his 40s. It just wasn't going to happen. I've seen too many times guys come through our gym, and they fight late in age, and they get seriously hurt. That was never going to happen to me. I'm willing to entertain big and huge offers from the UFC and big fights. But if not, you know, it's OK. I'm at peace."

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Colby Covington not 'fully retired,' open to return if UFC offers right fight