UFC fighter Colby “Chaos” Covington is not feeling the love now that the MAGA era is over, so he decided to create more drama.
On the heels of the revelation of the Dallas Mavericks not playing the national anthem under the supervision of owner Mark Cuban, Covington decided to add his special brand of “Chaos” to the subject on Tuesday.
Can’t play The National Anthem and can’t say FREE Hong Kong, but you could customize the back of your official @DallasMavs jersey ALL summer long to say: ‘KillCops.’ @MarkCuban and the @NBA are absolute trash.”
Can’t play The National Anthem and can’t say FREE Hong Kong, but you could customize the back of your official @DallasMavs jersey ALL summer long to say: “KillCops.” @MarkCuban and the @NBA are absolute trash. https://t.co/rgwb3EjDtz
— Colby Covington (@ColbyCovMMA) February 10, 2021
Cuban hasn’t played the national anthem all season long, however, now that fans are being allowed in the arena, the works took notice.
On Wednesday, the NBA issued a statement saying that the playing of the national anthem would be required at all NBA games.
“With NBA teams now in the process of welcoming fans back into their arenas, all teams will play the national anthem in keeping with longstanding league policy,” said NBA Chief Communications Officer Mike Bass said via statement.
The Mavericks did agree to play the anthem again with Cuban issued his own statement on Wednesday.
“We respect and always have respected the passion people have for the anthem and our country. I have always stood for the anthem with the hand over my heart — no matter where I hear it played. But we also hear the voices of those who do not feel the anthem represents them.
We feel they also need to be respected and heard because they have not been heard. The hope is that those who feel passionate about the anthem being played will be just as passionate in listening to those who do not feel it represents them.”
Thank you for always being the champion the people of America need Mr. President! God bless you and the entire Trump Family for always putting America First! 🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/p910qjmIOt
— Colby Covington (@ColbyCovMMA) January 20, 2021
Ironically, Covington, who doesn’t play basketball, has never directed this energy towards his home organization of the UFC, which also doesn’t play the national anthem at fights.
Covington clearly isn’t as concerned about the national anthem on a universal athletic level. If he was, his main concern should be having the mixed martial arts industry adopt the boxing pre-main event tradition of the national anthem performance.
However, as usual, Covington’s main schtick of divisiveness as a promotional weapon is at play. Now without his favorite mascot of division, former President Donald Trump, Covington has to keep the negative energy up to stay relevant within combat sports.
