UFC welterweight Ben Askren is happy to let everyone know he called it.

Since Colby Covington (15-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) began making a name for himself in the ranks of the promotion’s 170-pound division, Askren (19-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC), who meets Demian Maia in Saturday’s UFC on ESPN+ 20 headliner in Singapore, has vocalized his disdain.

Before Askren and Covington were MMA fighters, both were collegiate wrestlers. “Funky” pointed to the closely intertwined wrestling community as his main source of information. In a recent interview with Submission Radio, Askren sounded off on the former UFC interim champion and reminded everyone of his warnings.

“Colby’s a terrible person,” Askren said. “I’ve been telling the outside world this for many years. I am in the wrestling community. The wrestling community is tight knit. We knows who sucks and doesn’t suck. Here’s the deal. Everywhere Colby’s been, nobody likes him. They don’t like him. No good reviews.”

Recently, rivals haven’t been the only ones to blast Covington. His own teammates at American Top Team have chimed in. Jorge Masvidal, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and Dustin Poirier have all publicly stated they don’t care for Covington’s character or antics.

“We’re now seeing that come out of ATT,” Askren said. “Everyone has been trying to keep quiet, but think about the people that have come out against him: Joanna, Dustin, Jorge. I’m mean, who likes him?

“Can you guys name me one person from ATT who stuck up and said, ‘You know what? I actually think Colby is a really good guy. He’s just misunderstood. Hey, Colby adds a lot to this team.’ Can you guys name me one person who’s said that?”

Although Covington’s antics have caused controversy time and time again, a general belief amongst the MMA community is that he’s playing a character. He’s using his “Make America Great Again” garb and in-your-face trash talk in order to promote fights.

Askren sees this sentiment as true, but he said Covington is still a person of poor character, even when he’s being his genuine non-gimmick self.

“Genuinely, nobody likes him,” Askren said. “In real life, he’s really a douchebag. For real. Real talk.”

At UFC 245 on Dec. 14, Covington will challenge UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. The fight is a tossup in Askren’s mind, but the Roufusport product is slightly leaning towards the champion to get the victory.

“I think they’re actually very, very similar,” Askren said. “Like almost the same fighter. I think Marty (Usman) is a little bit better than Colby is. So I think ‘Marty’ wins. But again, hey, if they both get beat up really bad, I’m not that sad about.”