This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Colby Covington Turns 30

Colby Covington has become one of the most polarizing figures in mixed martial arts, his rise in notoriety coinciding with his emergence as one of the sport’s premier welterweights. The Clovis, California, native will celebrate his 30th birthday on Feb. 22.

Previous to his arriving on the MMA scene, Covington was an accomplished amateur wrestler. He won a national championship at Iowa Central Community College before becoming a two-time Pac-10 conference champion at Oregon State University, where he earned All-America honors in 2011. Operating out of the star-studded American Top Team camp, Covington made his professional MMA debut on Feb. 11, 2012 and won his first nine fights, three of them in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, before submitting to a Warlley Alves guillotine choke at UFC 194. He has since pieced together a five-fight winning streak, pushing his record inside the Octagon to 8-1. Covington last fought at UFC Fight Night 119 in October, when he claimed a unanimous decision from 2007 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships gold medalist Demian Maia.

The aptly named “Chaos” has by design created plenty of enemies with his over-the-top trash talking, which included his referring to Brazilians as “filthy animals.” Prior to a UFC event in Sydney in November, Covington was involved in a highly publicized altercation with former heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum, who hurled a boomerang at him. That resulted in his pressing assault charges against Werdum before going on bizarre public rants about fascism.

Others in MMA celebrating a birthday during the month of February:

FEB. 1

Bill Mahood, 51
Igor Pokrajac, 39
Ronda Rousey, 31
Jared Papazian, 30

FEB. 2

Hector Lombard, 40
Denis Stojnic, 38
Herbert Burns, 30
Eric Shelton, 27

FEB. 3

Rodrigo Damm, 38
Ricardo Tirloni, 35
Phillipe Nover, 34
Eduardo Dantas, 29

FEB. 4

Andrei Arlovski, 39
Satoru Kitaoka, 38
Luiz Cane, 37
Yaotzin Meza, 37

FEB. 5

Antoni Hardonk, 42
Lyle Beerbohm, 39
Johnny Cisneros, 38
Leonardo Santos, 38
Bubba Jenkins, 30
Joaquim Silva, 29

FEB. 6

Waachiim Spiritwolf, 42
Vik Grujic, 41
Shinichi Kojima, 39
Mamoru Nakamura, 37
Andrew Holbrook, 32
Ryan Hollis, 29
Khalil Rountree, 28

FEB. 7

Haruo Ochi, 34
Derrick Lewis, 33
T.J. Dillashaw, 32
Lance Palmer, 30
Cesar Avila, 29
Jae Hyun So, 29

FEB. 8

Kevin Ferguson (1974-2016)
Yuki Ishikawa, 51
Jaime Jara, 49
Chan Rothana, 32
Syuri Kondo, 29
Pawel Pawlak, 29

FEB. 9

Chris Clements, 42
Mark Munoz, 40
Charlie Brenneman, 37
Jake Rosholt, 36
Jake Hecht, 34
Henry Cejudo, 31
Felipe Arantes, 30

FEB. 10

Masakazu Imanari, 42
Matt Horwich, 40
Nick Ring, 39
Mariusz Radziszewski, 34

FEB. 11

Evan Tanner (1971-2008)
Ken Shamrock, 54
Ali Mokdad, 35
Stephen Thompson, 35
Vagab Vagabov, 32
Andrea Lee, 29
Bec Rawlings, 29
Megan Anderson, 28

FEB. 12

Jon Madsen, 38
Tony Ferguson, 34
Joey Miolla, 33
Luke Jumeau, 30

FEB. 13

Elvis Sinosic, 47
Anthony Lapsley, 38
Ewerton Teixeira, 36
Daniel Hooker, 28

FEB. 14

Kenny Robertson, 34
Micah Miller, 31
Chris Mierzwiak, 30
Jayson Jones, 29

FEB. 15

Brian Rogers, 34
Cezar Ferreira, 33
Steven Siler, 31
Ciro Rodrigues, 29
Emiliano Sordi, 27

FEB. 16

Carina Damm, 39
Zelg Galesic, 39
Mark Eddiva, 32
Vladimir Mineev, 28
Mirsad Bektic, 27

FEB. 17

Brett Rogers, 37
Will Ribeiro, 35
Carrington Banks, 29
Anatoly Tokov, 28

FEB. 18

Jimi Manuwa, 38
Marvin Blumer, 36
Melvin Blumer, 36
Joseph Duffy, 30
Fabiano Silva da Conceicao, 30
Stefan Struve, 30
Curtis Blaydes, 27

FEB. 19

Chad Leonhardt, 38
Ben Alloway, 37
Liz Carmouche, 34
Nam Jin Jo, 27

FEB. 20

Antonio Inoki, 75
Rousimar Palhares, 38
Tim Means, 34
Derek Anderson, 28
Damian Stasiak, 28

FEB. 21

Chris Kelades, 37
Paul Daley, 35
Alex Oliveira, 30
Roman Salazar, 30
Brian Ortega, 27

FEB. 22

Gregor Herb, 40
Edgar Garcia, 34
Colby Covington, 30
Kuat Khamitov, 30

FEB. 23

Ruan Potts, 40
Gina Begley, 37
James Vick, 31
Olivier Aubin-Mercier, 29
Mike Hofer, 28

FEB. 24

Andre Roberts, 53
Bas Rutten, 53
Jon Fitch, 40
Fernando Bruno, 36
Jan Blachowicz, 35

FEB. 25

Kelly Kobald, 35
Ron Stallings, 35
Jacob McClintock, 30
Rachael Ostovich, 27

FEB. 26

John Lober, 50
T.J. Grant, 34
Jeff Lentz, 29
Reant Febriza Rainir, 29

FEB. 27

Michael Knaap, 34
Antonio Castillo Jr., 31
Misha Cirkunov, 31
Thibault Gouti, 31
Sean Strickland, 27

FEB. 28

Jorge Rivera, 46
Michael Bisping, 39
Jarod Trice, 29
Glaico Franca, 27

FEB. 29

Jim Yorke, 42
Francimar Barroso, 38
Patrick Cote, 38