Four-Hands Tui Na for a UFC Warrior: When Colby “Chaos” Covington Came to the Table
Some of our favorite days on Miami Beach start on the mats. Back in the spring of 2021, at MMA Masters, we had the pleasure of working on UFC welterweight Colby “Chaos” Covington — and what began as one recovery session turned into something he kept coming back for: four-hands Tui Na, two sets of hands working at once, and a fighter who genuinely loved how it left his body feeling.
As fall settles over South Beach and training camps grind on, it felt like the right moment to share the story — and a little of the science behind why skilled hands-on work is such a gift for combat athletes.
A Champion’s Body Deserves Championship Recovery
Colby is a former interim UFC welterweight champion — he captured that belt at UFC 225 in 2018 — and he built a career on relentless pace and pressure (you can see his verified record on his official UFC athlete page). That style is brutal on the body. Wrestling, scrambles, and five-round wars leave the neck, traps, lats, and hips locked up tight.
When he came to us, we leaned on Tui Na, the ancient Chinese medical massage that works along the body’s channels with rhythmic pressing, kneading, and joint mobilization. One technique he especially liked was a gentle cervical rotation Alejandra calls “the rainbow” — a slow, supported arc that opens the neck after a hard week of takedown defense.
Why Four Hands Beat Two
What really won Colby over was four-hands massage — both of us working in sync, one on the upper body while the other addresses the legs and hips. For an athlete, it means twice the ground covered in the same session and a nervous system that simply can’t keep tracking every point of contact, so it finally lets go.
The Chemistry of Letting Go
Hard training floods the body with adrenaline and norepinephrine — the useful, short-burst stress chemistry that makes fighters sharp. The problem is coming back down. This is where massage earns its place: research suggests that massage therapy can lower cortisol while raising serotonin and dopamine, the body’s own mood-steadying and recovery chemistry (Field et al., 2005). Warm, trusted, hands-on touch has also been linked to the release of oxytocin, the “connection” hormone tied to calm and lower stress (Morhenn et al., 2012). For a combat athlete, that shift from fight-or-flight to rest-and-recover is where the real repair happens.
Recovery Built for Fighters — and for You
You don’t need a UFC contract to train like your recovery matters. Whether you roll in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, hit the heavy bag, lift, or just carry a desk-job’s worth of tension, the same tools that helped a pro welterweight can help you. Explore our full menu on the massage services page, and when you’re ready, book your session online or call us at (786) 399-0048.
Thank you, Colby, for trusting us with your recovery — it was an honor every time. Train hard, recover smart, and we’ll see you on the table.
— Shane & Alejandra, Miami Massage Therapy · MiamiMassageTherapy.com
