Pro-Trump UFC fighter goes after LeBron: ‘I hope you get locked up in the same cell with Diddy’

Former interim UFC welterweight champion Colby Covington had some harsh words for Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and his past relationship with rapper Diddy, who is facing sex trafficking charges. James said in an Instagram Live post with the rapper several years ago that there “ain’t no party like a Diddy party.”

Covington’s criticisms of James could be politically motivated. After all, he claims James wants to defund the police, and that’s a viewpoint that’s commonly associated with the left side of the political spectrum.

The 36-year-old is also a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, who will begin his second term as the president of the United States in January. In his profile picture on X, he is posing for a picture with the Republican, and Covington visited Trump at the White House during his first term in office.

The California native boasts an impressive record of 17-4-0 in the UFC, and he has another fight in the near future. Covington is slated to take on Joaquin Buckley — who owns a record of 20-6-0 — on Dec. 14. The fight will be held at Amalie Arena, which is located in Tampa, Fla.

Covington also mentioned James’ absence from social media and implied that it could have something to do with his name being connected to Diddy. James announced his break from social media back on Nov. 20 on X and suggested that he’s sick of the negativity that exists in sports media.

James hasn’t made any new posts to his X account since then, and it’s been almost a month since the 39-year-old revealed his intentions to take a hiatus from social media.

The NBA’s oldest player just recently missed his first game since the beginning of the 2024-25 regular season. He sat out Los Angeles’ contest against the Portland Trail Blazers on Dec. 8. after he appeared in every one of the Lakers’ first 23 games of the campaign.

Thus far in his 22nd NBA season, James is averaging 23.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 9.1 assists per game. In addition, he’s shooting 49.5 percent from the field, 35.9 percent from deep and 76.2 percent from the charity stripe in his seventh season as a member of the Lakers organization.