Colby
Covington has brushed several people the wrong way over the
years, including lightweight contender Dustin
Poirier.
A perennial welterweight contender, Covington (17-3) has also
assumed a heel persona by crossing boundaries with his trash talk
on several occasions.
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“Chaos” was allegedly sucker punched by former friend and teammate
Jorge
Masvidal outside a Miami restaurant hardly two weeks removed
from his lopsided decision win over “Gamebred” at UFC 272.
However, Masvidal apparently isn’t the only fighter who had a
problem with Covington at
American Top Team in Florida. A part of ATT since 2011,
Covington parted ways with the gym in 2020 over growing tensions
with Masvidal, Dustin
Poirier and Joanna
Jedrzejczyk.
Covington even issued an uncharacteristic public apology to Poirier
(29-8) prior to his exit from ATT after coach Dan Lambert imposed a
no-trash talk rule. However, “Chaos” has since gone back and forth
with Poirier on multiple occasions, even teasing a potential clash
with “The Diamond” at 170 pounds.
Covington recently took a fresh dig at Poirier, blaming the
Louisiana native for his exit from ATT.
“A guy by the name of Dustin Soreier. He’s the one that got me
kicked out of my old gym by crying and having feelings, saying,
‘Oh, Colby is a mean person. Kick him out of our gym,’ while we get
locked in an Octagon to hurt each other in our underwear on
Saturday nights. I would love to square up with Dustin Soreier, but
he’s afraid of me and he’s afraid of my shadow. I’ll never get to
fight him because he’s just scared,” the 35-year-old recently told
UFC.com.
Despite having not competed since March 2022 and two of his last
four outings being title losses, Covington is set to challenge
Leon
Edwards for the welterweight strap at
UFC 296 on Dec. 16 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Despite his heel persona, Covington’s humanitarian side recently
came to light when UFC newcomer Themba
Gorimbo thanked “Chaos” for bringing him food during tough
times.
Meanwhile, Poirier is coming off a brutal knockout loss against
Justin
Gaethje at UFC 291 in July and is plotting a return on the
marquee UFC 300 card next year.