UFC Champ Colby Covington Preparing For WSOP Main Event Shot

Poker players have occasionally tried their hand at MMA, but UFC welterweight champion Colby Covington will be one of the few to do it in reverse, the 30-year old Oregon native planning on a World Series Main Event appearance and desperate to become “the first two-sport world champion in poker and fighting”…

Covington, who became the interim UFC welterweight champ last week when he defeated Brazilian Rafael dos Anjos, has a lot more poker experience than most fighters who have graced the Main Event – his Hendon Mob listing showing $40,442 in cashes over a number of small buy-in events stretching back to 2012.

“Hopefully I make it through like day four or five so I can make it on the ESPN broadcast. But I’ll definitely be representing the UFC at the World Series of Poker,” Covington told MMA News this week, adding: "I love playing Texas Hold ‘Em. I love playing tournaments and big cash games, high-stakes cash games.”

The outspoken welterweight isn’t the first big-name MMA star to take a seat in the Main Event, but he likely has a better chance of making the money than former UFC light-heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell who appeared back in 2008, as did Ultimate Fighter winner Forrest Griffin.

In 2012 and 2013, one of Covington’s predecessors as welterweight champ, George St. Pierre, also played the Main Event – but like his erstwhile UFC companions he failed to shine.

Covington has some serious plans, however, stating:

“I want to be the first two-sport world champion in poker and fighting, and eventually pro wrestling and WWE.”

If he plays as good a game as he talks when the Main Event kicks off early next month, he’s certainly in with a fighting chance.