Colby Covington Cuts Ties With American Top Team

Mandatory Credit: Jeff Chiu - Associated Press

Former interim UFC welterweight titleholder, Colby 'Chaos' Covington has officially confirmed his departure from longtime gym, Florida's American Top Team.

The 32-year-old rustled some feathers amongst his teammates, due to his brash criticism and trash talk - infamously aimed at former UFC strawweight best, Joanna Jędrzejczyk, former interim lightweight champion, Dustin Poirier, and welterweight division rival, Jorge 'Gamebred' Masvidal. Covington began training at ATT after college and confirmed the news after speculation rose regarding his status - after he was removed from the team roster on the ATT website.

In an interview with James Lynch from The Score, Covington explained how he had split from the facility - following gym co-founder, Dan Lambert's decision to strictly suspend the use of trash talking among teammates, as tension rose between Covington and the above-mentioned trio in recent months. The Clovis born wrestler further explained how he was now a member of, "Colby Covington incorporated".

"I am a member of Colby Covington incorporated," Covington revealed. "I am a member of Colby Covington business, Colby Covington team, everything. This is my team now."

With Jędrzejczyk, Poirier, and Masvidal publicly criticised by Covington - the Californian told how Lambert was put in a situation after the trio would "come to him and cry like babies".

"Oh, I'm a pro fighter, but I'm going to go to Dan Lambert, 'Hey, Dan, I don't want to fight him in the cage because I know I can't beat him, but Dan, can you protect my precious little feelings? Our soldiers put it all on the line for our freedoms, you can't suppress my freedom of speech, my freedom of opinion. You can't take that away. This is the Ultimate Fighting Championship - this isn't the Ultimate Feelings Championship. Just because Joanna (Jędrzejczyk), Dustin (Poirier), and Jorge (Masvidal) want to come to him and cry like little babies, that's not fair. I didn't want to put him in that situation where they're going to keep harping on him."

Covington further explained how if Masvidal and Poirier had any problems with him, they could "direct (their) your complaints" to Colby Covington incorporated - before offering to square off with either of them in the Octagon.

"Now at Colby Covington incorporated, you direct your complaints to me - you don't direct your complaints to Dan Lambert," Covington explained. "So, Jorge Masvidal, Dustin Poirier, you've got complaints? Come to me. Let's settle them in the cage. But, you don't want to do that. You know what will happen. We trained together for nine years. Now, all the gloves are off. No matter what happened in the past, 'Doofus' Dustin, the little cuck, who's out here running [his mouth] about my name and he's hurt in his feelings - Ok, boy. You want to talk to the media? You're going to come beat me up? Come try and fight me. And, same for 'Street Judas' Masvidal - you're so hard, you're a fifty-fifty fighter. You don't even want to fight for the title because you're scared, you're going to get exposed."

Covington last featured inside the Octagon at UFC 245 in December - dropping his first loss in seven outings, losing a fifth-round knockout to reigning 170-pound kingpin, Kamaru 'The Nigerian Nightmare' Usman. Prior to the defeat, Covington had bested former welterweight champion, 'Ruthless' Robbie Lawler in a one-sided unanimous decision, after an interim title win over former lightweight best Rafael dos Anjos. In a display which earned him flooding criticism, Covington took a judging victory over Demian Maia in Brazil back in October of 2017 - before labelling the country, a "dump" and it's citizens, "animals" in his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier.