Colby Covington aimed a sly dig at Jon Jones as he sat next to his greatest ever rival at WrestleMania on Sunday night.
Covington was one of a number of UFC personalities to show up ringside during the two-night showcase in Las Vegas. The former interim champion was loudly booed by fans when he appeared on the broadcast, similar to the reaction garnered by promotional CEO Dana White.
He was joined at ringside by Daniel Cormier, and appeared to be sitting near bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili. While posing for a photo with the former two-weight champion, he made sure to fire a shot at his old rival Jones.
Colby Covington mocks Jon Jones in Daniel Cormier boast
In a post to Instagram on Sunday night, Colby Covington posed alongside former heavyweight and light-heavyweight champion Daniel Comier. The pair were sat ringside to watch John Cena break a record and dethrone Cody Rhodes for the WWE title at WrestleMania.
Covington captioned the picture: “Night 2 at @wwe #wrestlemania41 with the Natty [GOAT] @dc_mma! This place is an electric factory.” While it may seem inconspicuous, the welterweight contender was likely subtly jabbing at Jon Jones with his message.
Jones is widely considered the GOAT, or Greatest Of All Time in MMA. He twice defeteated Cormier, and his second win was considered his crowning achievement as he knocked out the Olympian to seemingly settle their feud.
However, that result was later overturned to a No Contest as he tested positive for Turinabol. This followed an initial booking for the pair to have a rematch the previous summer which was cancelled on fight week when he was found to have estrogen blockers clomiphene and letrozole in his system.
As a result of those and other drug test issues, there remains an asterisk with many fans over Jones’ true status as the best fighter of all time.
Covington was noting that Cormier, who never failed a test or was even so much as accused of taking performance enhancers, should be considered the ‘Natty’, or ‘Natural’ GOAT. This means that he achieved his accolades without the help of performance enhancing drugs.
Colby Covington and Jon Jones are former roommates turned enemies
The feud between Covington and Jones is a strange one, seemingly only coming years after they both made their names in the octagon. They were reportedly college roommates, but appear not to have remained friendly with the welterweight regularly mocking his heavyweight compatriot.
“There’s nothing to respect about Jon,” Covington said during a Twitch stream last year following his UFC Tampa defeat to Joaquin Buckley. “He’s cheated his whole career… So he’s a terrible person.
“Of course he’d talk about a saint and someone who’s a law-abiding citizen like myself. Someone that stands for law and order. Someone that stands for the military, the troops, the Trumps. So f— Jon Jones.”
