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…