[9] As a wrestler at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon, Covington lettered all four years and won the 171 lb state championship as a senior in 2006.

On August 10, 2007, he was arrested for eluding police and driving under the influence, having registered a BAC of 0.255, over three times the legal limit of 0.08.

[10] He looked for a fresh start, and former Hawkeyes coach Jim Zalesky convinced Covington to transfer to Oregon State University.

[40] Covington was briefly linked to a title unification bout with the then champion Tyron Woodley on September 8, 2018, at UFC 228.

As a result, UFC officials turned their attention to arranging a bout between Woodley and Darren Till to fill the headlining spot.

In turn, promotional officials indicated on July 24 that Covington would be stripped of the Interim UFC Welterweight Championship, once the bout between Woodley and Till took place.

[61] Covington stepped in as a replacement for Ian Machado Garry, to face Joaquin Buckley on December 14, 2024, at UFC on ESPN 63.

[62] Covington lost the fight by technical knockout as a result of a doctor stoppage due to a cut above his eye in the third round.

[63] As an NCAA Division I All-American[13] and a two-time Pac-10 champion as a collegiate wrestler, Covington heavily utilizes wrestling and grappling in mixed martial arts.

[64] While standing, Covington primarily fights out of a southpaw stance, and his striking arsenal features a variety of punches and kicks.

[65] Kano Jigoro → Tomita Tsunejiro → Mitsuyo Maeda → Carlos Gracie → Reyson Gracie → Osvaldo Alves → Daniel Valverde → Colby Covington[66][67][68] In August 2017, Covington began making appearances in Impact Wrestling (known at the time as Global Force Wrestling), representing American Top Team, where he got involved in the storyline with Lashley.

Post-match, Covington attacked referee Brian Hebner with a rear-naked choke, which Lashley had to call off, before he and ATT left the arena.

(taped August 17), they were again at ringside to support Lashley in a twenty-man gauntlet match for the GFW Impact World Heavyweight Championship, which was eventually won by Eli Drake.

[75] On 5 November, at Bound for Glory, Covington appeared as a cornerman, as Lashley and King Mo defeated Moose and Stephan Bonnar in a six sides of steel match.

In February 2018 and in the midst of his feud with Tyron Woodley, Covington appeared at a WrestlePro event, in conjunction with Impact.

After winning the Interim UFC Welterweight Championship, he stated he wanted to visit Trump at the White House to present him with the title,[79] which he did on August 2, 2018.

[81] Covington dedicated his win over Woodley to first responders and the military and criticized Black Lives Matter and LeBron James.

Following his 2017 bout with Demian Maia at São Paulo, Brazil, he called the country a "dump" and referred to the Brazilian crowd as "filthy animals" in the post-fight interview.

[85] In an interview with Candace Owens, Covington said that his "act" was a response to the UFC threatening to cut him before the Maia fight and stated the "filthy animals" speech "saved his career.

"[86] Covington further embraced his villain status before his 2019 main event encounter with Robbie Lawler at UFC on ESPN 5.

He used the WWE entrance theme of professional wrestler Kurt Angle—which is regularly punctuated with crowd chants of "You suck!

This was in reference to a near-fatal accident Hughes suffered in 2017, where he was permanently damaged when his truck was struck by a train at a rail crossing.

[89][90] Despite being criticized by the media, Covington refused to apologize, explaining that "the guy's done some pretty crappy stuff, he's got lawsuits against his family, against his brother, I just said the truth, I'm honest.

"[95] In the pre-fight press conference for UFC 296, Covington stated in a heated back-and-forth with Leon Edwards: "I'm gonna take you to the seventh layer of hell ... We'll say 'what's up' to your dad while we're there.

"[99] Covington's performance at UFC 296 also garnered additional criticism, with Dana White commenting that he looked "old and slow.