‘Ashamed’ Covington apologizes to Poirier, will ‘keep it civil’ in gym
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Colby Covington has “made a deal” to “keep it civil” with teammate Dustin Poirier.
Colby Covington managed to create rifts between some of his teammates at American Top Team. But in a surprising turn of events, “Chaos” is actually squashing one of those beefs.
Covington was still attacking Poirier during his recent conversation with Ariel Helwani, when he first revealed he was trying to patch things up.
“That’s what makes the whole thing stupid. He’s a little lightweight washout and he’s trying to call out the greatest welterweight of all-time, me, myself,” Covington said of Poirier (transcript by MMA Fighting). “The whole thing from the start is just fake news and it makes no sense.
“The guy needs to stay in his lane, understand his role, act like a B-job level fighter and just know your role, bitch. I’m the top of the mountain right now at the welterweight division and I’m what’s saving the UFC.”
But in a follow-up interview with Submission Radio, Covington went on to issue a more sincere apology, including his statements he told on Helwani’s show. He also said he “made a deal to keep it civil” with Poirier.
“Speaking of lightweights, I want to take this moment, guys, to apologise real quick. I want to apologise to my teammate, Dustin Poirier,” he told Submission Radio. “I broke a promise to my agent, Dan Lambert. And I really do feel bad, and I feel ashamed. Yesterday I was asked a question by (Ariel) Helwani about Dustin, my teammate, and I kind of lost my cool. I was too busy spitting fire on the world and I was so hyped up about the Woodley fight that I kind of went off on Dustin.
“I just want to say that I’m sorry, Dustin. You’re still my friend, we can be friends. I’m sorry about hurting your feelings and saying some words in the past that might have hurt your feelings, and you know, business goes back to usual at American Top Team. I want to have a civil gym and I don’t want there to be drama or beef in the gym, I want to keep things civil.
“And if any of these guys want to come fight me, anybody out there, you know where to find me,” Covington added. “We can fight for a lot of money in the octagon. But why aren’t these guys talking about fighting me in the octagon? They keep talking about fighting me in the street.”
According to Covington, what really drove him to issue an apology was because he felt shame towards ATT owner Dan Lambert.
“Yeah, I never apologise and I can’t believe I’m doing it here today with you guys, but, you know, that’s how much trust I have in you guys and faith in you guys,” Covington said. “And what made me want to apologise is, I’m really apologising to Dan Lambert. I broke a promise. We made a promise that – he’s in a different weight class. He’s a lightweight, I’m a welterweight. Our business and our paths are not gonna cross, so there’s no reason to talk about each other.
“Let’s keep everything normal at the gym, and guys can interact and train, and they can hate each other, but we have enough space in the gym where there shouldn’t be any problems, let’s just handle our business.
“And I broke that promise with Dan, and I told him I wasn’t going to talk about Dustin, he’s not gonna talk about me, and I’m ashamed, man,” he added. “I’m usually not like this, but you know, I’m a man to admit when I’m wrong, and I’m wrong, I made a mistake. I’m just like every other American out there, we make mistakes. and the most important thing is we learn from our mistakes, and I’ve learned from my mistake and I’m gonna be better. I’m sorry, Dan Lambert. I’m sorry, Dustin. Love you guys, American Top Team forever.”
Covington did make amends with Poirier, but he isn’t willing to do the same with former long-time training partner Jorge Masvidal.
“What’s my message to Jorge “Journeyman” Jorge Masvidal AKA Street Judas? The guy who tried to stab me in the back for money and business?” he said. “You got your ass whooping waiting, buddy. You got your 10 seconds of fame. They’re up. You hit lighting in a bottle. But let’s look at your record, buddy. You got double digit losses on your record.
You’re a 50/50 average mediocre fighter. Stop acting like you’re so great, you ain’t great. You know what happened when we used to train for the last eight, nine years. There’s never been one second where you have ever beat me. So, if you want to get embarrassed in front of the world, let’s do it, because Jorge keeps talking about wanting to fight in the streets.
“It’s like, dude, if we fight in the streets who’s going to pay your medical bills, Jorge?” Covington added. “At least if we fight in the UFC octagon I’m gonna break your jaw, I’m gonna rearrange your face, and the UFC will cover your medical bills. So, let’s leave our business in the octagon. But he doesn’t want to fight me in the octagon, he knows better than that.”
Covington also threw shade at teammate Joanna Jedrzejczyk for losing to Weili Zhang at UFC 248.
Post a Comment