The backlash against Colby Covington has intensified after his post-fightcommments at UFC Fight Night 119 on Saturday night in which he branded Brazil “a dump” and described it’s people as “filthy animals” during his post-fight speech.
Covington has already shrugged off remarks from UFC exec David Shaw, who said his comments were “uncalled for and inappropriate” in the aftermath of the event, but now some members of his own fight camp are calling him out for the rant.
The most damning condemnation came from American Top Team co-founder Ricardo Liborio, who put Covington on blast while announcing that he was leaving the camp he helped create back in 2001.
“I feel that I must make a statement in light of the comments made by Colby Convigton along with the amount of messages sent to me from Brazil, the United States, and from all over the world,” Liborio wrote on Instagram.
“I’m here to state that I am no longer with American Top Team. Also, I absolutely do not condone any behavior that instigates hate, prejudice, or bullying of any kind. It upsets me to see the sport taking this direction of blatant disrespect. It’s unsportsmanlike, but it also fosters and promotes a culture of cruelty towards others. Combat Sports should always represent the qualities of humility, empathy, and respect. I dedicated my life to the Martial arts, and to the formation and growth of this team. I can not discuss at this time the reasons for my departure from ATT. At some point, I will. For the time being, I want the members of ATT to know that they will always be in my heart.”
Meanwhile, women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes bluntly said that her teammate was, “Just a D BAG,” while another ATT fighter Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva wrote, “Colby you are an anti professional and dirty person, I’ll show you how to respect my country and my people.”
Despite this, Covington is remaining defiant, despite his comments having completely overshadowed the biggest win of his career to date against Demian Maia and made him public enemy No.1 in the gym.
“I don’t really care about Amanda Nunes,” Covington told MMAJunkie yesterday. “I don’t really care about ‘Bigfoot’ Silva, you know. They’re not my friends. They never have been my friends, and they never will be my friends.”
He went on to state that there was already a deep divide at ATT anyway.
“There’s always been a dividing line between the Americans and the Brazilians. I’ve said this since Day 1: There’s a lot of cliques in the gym. If you go back through my interviews, then you know this is nothing new that I haven’t said before. So it is what it is.”
