The always controversial Covington has made some remarks about the late Glenn Robinson in the lead up to the encounter, saying that Usman was responsible for Robinson's death in 2018 due to the champ allegedly ducking him and that Robinson would be watching the bout from hell.
Robinson’s daughters would reach out to MMA Junkie and issue the following statement to ask that Covington to stop using their father’s name to promote UFC 245:
“It saddens us to even have to make a statement regarding a previous distasteful comment Colby Covington made suggesting our late father, Glenn Robinson, will be watching his upcoming fight from hell. However, after careful thought and consideration, on behalf of our family, we feel it is necessary to defend our father’s name.
“The death of our father is still very raw. Our family is still grieving from his loss, so imagine the hurt we felt to hear such hateful words recklessly said about our father.
“We understand the excitement of building up hype before a fight, but we are sure Colby Covington can get press for his upcoming fight on his own merit and without spewing hateful words towards our father, the founder of the Blackzilians. In fact, our father was the exact opposite of a hateful person. He gave countless opportunities to many people, both personally and professionally. He consistently put everyone else’s best interests before his own. Our father died too young, but we can proudly say he accomplished more during his short life than many others do in a full lifetime.
“Lastly, we did not want to make this statement or to breathe more life into someone that truly has no relevance in our lives, but we will always defend our father, his reputation and his name, the one we share proudly.”
–Written by the daughters of the late Glenn Robinson
UFC 245 takes place on Saturday, December 14 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
