RAF CEO Chad Bronstein says there is more to Colby Covington than meets the eye. Bronstein noted that Covington is a polarizing figure. However, he said that former interim UFC welterweight champion has been a joy to work with.
Covington, 38, is set to return to the RAF mats for the third time tomorrow night at RAF09. He will face former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman and aim to improve to 3-0 in the wrestling promotion.
Covington made headlines after retiring from the UFC to pursue freestyle wrestling full-time. While ‘Chaos’ retired, he did not rule out a future return to the octagon. Now that he is retired, there are no restrictions on who he can wrestle in the promotion.
Covington is not only an RAF wrestler, but he is also an investor in the promotion.
Chad Bronstein Opens Up About Working With Colby Covington in RAF
Chad Bronstein also opened up about working with Colby Covington since RAF launched.
Covington made his promotion debut earlier this year when he faced Luke Rockhold. He has since become more active, especially with promoting his matches.
While Covington is known for his brash persona when selling his fights, Bronstein has seen another side of ‘Chaos.’ The RAF CEO spoke highly of the former interim welterweight champion’s commitment to the wrestling promotion.
“I think people are misled by the way they think about Colby [Covington]. Colby’s one of the greatest people I’ve got to know. He’s an investor of the company, but I’ve known him before that. He is a great athlete and he loves wrestling,” Bronstein exclusively told Heavy Sports. “You feel the energy and he’s like, ‘I got to keep doing this.’ And so he started to get real. He’s been training pretty extensively and he wants to keep going.”
Bronstein Reveals Covington Signed Extension with RAF
It appears as though Covington expects to stay with RAF long-term. Bronstein revealed that the former UFC title challenger recently agreed to a contract extension with the wrestling promotion.
Bronstein revealed that Covington signed a multi-match extension and will compete often.
“I think he’s gonna wrestle a lot. We just signed an eight-match deal with him, so he’s gonna wrestle eight times,” Bronstein exclusively told Heavy Sports.
Bronstein also expressed excitement for RAF09, which takes place tomorrow night and streams exclusively on FOX Nation. He highlighted the background of those competing, including Covington, who faces Weidman in the co-main event.
The RAF CEO noted that the wrestling promotion is able to attract a broader audience because it provides great entertainment value.
“I think people forget that wrestling is one of the oldest sports in the world and that the names [competing],” Bronstein said. “Chris Weidman was an NCAA All-American, Covington was an NCAA All-American, Merab [Dvalishvili] is known for takedowns in the UFC, Arman [Tsarukyan] had a long training schedule in wrestling in Russia, so he’s actually a pretty good freestyle wrestler. And then Frankie Edgar was an NCAA wrestler as well.”
He added: “I think what everyone’s excited about is that RAF has given a stage for it to showcase how great of a sport wrestling is.”
RAF CEO Chad Bronstein Opens Up About Working With Colby Covington: Exclusive