UFC News: Colby Covington reveals how nearly getting fired led to his controversial "personality"

Colby Covington is enjoying his current run as the UFC's biggest "heel" - aka the villain of the organization. His controversial personality has been slammed by many to be a fake one and not legitimate charisma, the way Conor McGregor had.

He's currently set to take on the Welterweight Champion of the World Kamaru Usman in less than a week and it's going to be a huge main event for UFC 245. Many wondered what the origins of his personality were and on The Candace Owens Show (H/T Bjpenn.com), He finally revealed that he nearly got fired before he tuned into his "heel persona":

“I’ve never told this story before but three fights ago, before I fought the No. 2 guy in the world, this guy named Demian Maia in Brazil, they had told my manager Dan Lambert that they weren’t going to re-sign me. They didn’t like my style, they didn’t like that I wasn’t entertaining. This is before I really started to become an entertainer and really understand the entertainment aspect of the business. Before this fight, they told me no matter what happens, I was ranked No. 6 in the world, we’re not re-signing you, we don’t like your character, we don’t like your fighting style. And I’m getting paid $30,000 to go fight the No. 2 guy in the world. After you pay taxes and pay your coaches you’re really going to get $5000 or $10,000,”

He revealed that his anti-Brazil promo got him a lot of heat but the attention led to UFC re-signing him as well.

“So I go out there and I beat him up and leave him in a pool of blood in Sao Paulo, in his home city. I shoot this promo on the Brazilians and say, ‘You guys are all a bunch of filthy animals and Brazil you’re a dump.’ So I go and shoot this promo, and I wasn’t supposed to have my job, but that promo goes so viral on the internet, that the UFC’s like, we have to keep him, we have to re-sign him because that promo is so big. So that’s what saved my career and that was the turning point of my career. The rest has been history.”

While the numbers may not exactly be McGregor-esque for his Fight Nights and PPVs, there's no denying that he's gotten a lot of attention recently. It could be argued that he's done more for UFC 245 in terms of promotion as compared to the Champion, Kamaru Usman.

Covington's association with the Trump Family has also led to him getting a lot of attention and it's something that he's exploited and it has perhaps led him to get his first PPV main event spot as well.

Personality aside, there's no denying his credentials in the Octagon and no denying that he has been the next-in-line challenger for the Welterweight Championship for a while now. Tune in to our coverage of UFC 245 this coming weekend!