Colby Covington to Return Early 2026 – Wants a Warmup Fight Ahead of White House Fight Night Slot
Colby Covington wants to fight twice in 2026, including a slot at the UFC’s highly anticipated White House card.
Just when it sounded like Covington may be done with MMA altogether, ‘Chaos’ recently came out of the woodwork, revealing in an interview with Helen Yee that he’s planning to compete at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue next year, but would like a warm-up fight before that.
“I’m hoping to return early 2026, maybe January or February, for a tune-up fight before the big White House event in June,” Covington said. “I want to fight in that, more than anything. I’ve been putting in hard work to bring politics into MMA. That would be a dream come true.”
Once upon a time, Covington was just another fighter on the roster, grinding out decision victories with his grapple-heavy style. Then, everything changed in 2017 when he debuted his maligned ‘MAGA’ gimmick and started palling around with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Covington quickly became one of the UFC’s top names, though that didn’t translate to wins inside the Octagon.
In the last six years, ‘Chaos’ has gone a lowly 2-4, his only wins coming against Tyron Woodley and Jorge Masival. After coming up short in his third welterweight title opportunity against Leon Edwards in 2023, Covington attempted to bounce back against Joaquin Buckley late last year. Instead, Covington suffered a brutal beating, forcing the cageside physician to step in and end the fight in round three.
Recently, MMA journalist James Lynch suggested that Covington quietly retired from the sport after practically disappearing from interviews and calling out fighters he knows he’ll never get the chance to fight.
With a spot on the White House card in play, it sounds like Covington is gearing up for a big return.
