Colby Covington, a top contender for the UFC welterweight crown, went at it again in a rant against reigning lightweight champion Khabib, whom he earlier referred to as a "filthy animal".
Speaking about a potential fight with Tyron Woodley, who holds the UFC welterweight title, Covington said that there are no promotional tactics that are "ugly and bad for MMA" — and immediately demonstrated it by his own example.
"At no point can it get bad for MMA", Covington said in an interview with Luke Thomas. "We were at our lowest point a couple of months ago when that sheep-lover Khabib jumped out of the cage and put innocent people's lives in danger. Everything sells these days".
As insulting as it sounds, Covington has somewhat toned down his inflammatory rhetoric toward Khabib, who comes from the North Caucasian Republic of Dagestan.
"Khabib is a filthy animal", he tweeted hours after the 6 October fight, which saw the Russian grappler beat Conor McGregor. "Way to set the sport back 20 years you stupid sheep f***er".
Khabib's victory over the Irishman was marred by ugly scenes inside and outside the octagon: seconds after submitting Conor with a rear-naked choke, he leapt over the fence to target McGregor's jiu-jitsu coach, apparently for insulting remarks the latter made during the fight.
Khabib's $2-million purse was withheld by the promotion pending an investigation into the brawl; he and Conor are scheduled to attend a hearing on 29 January to hear their fate.