Colby Covington is well established as one of the sport’s best trash-talkers, but it seems that his next opponent Robbie Lawler isn’t falling for it.
Covington and Lawler were friends and teammates at American Top Team up until ‘Ruthless’ opted to leave the camp following his title loss in 2016, and his departure didn’t sit well with ‘Chaos.’
“All the money that Dan [Lambert] put into him, Dan literally spoon-fed him,” Covington said of the ATT founder. “Robbie had everything. I had to earn everything at ATT the hard way. Robbie had all the training partners. They were flying in training partners, all the best coaches, paying for whatever. The funding for him and his training camps was out of this world. No one had ever had that at ATT.
“Literally, he had it better than anybody in the history of this gym, and then he just takes his ball and leaves the yard.”
With that in mind, Covington is now attempting to turn this fight into a grudge match, despite the two previously having had a good relationship.
“He was a good friend and a good training partner. He wasn’t out there to kill me back then, and that was different than Woodley. With Woodley, we used to get in serious fistfights. He’d start going hard when I was going light with him, and I’d have to take him down and wear him down, make him quit.
“With Robbie, we always trained with control,” he continued. “We always saved that (expletive) for the octagon. We had a good friendship. He helped me out with a lot of sponsors. But he turned his back on us, so it’s personal.
“I really do want to leave Robbie in a pool of his own blood. I’m pissed off what he did to Dan Lambert.”
However, with the two now scheduled to main event UFC On ESPN 5 on August 3rd, Lawler doesn’t appear to be feeling the need to engage in a war of words with his former teammate.
“I think it’s just him talking,” Lawler said on the HOT 97 radio show. “I don’t really pay much attention to what anyone’s saying, I know why I left, and that’s all that matters. Every decision I’ve ever made in my life, I’m better for it. It’s all learning experiences, and I’m just here to fight. I’m not here to talk about the past, I’m here to get better. I’m here to grow and continue to grow at life and in the sport.”
Lawler event went as far as to praise Covington and his camp.
“I think (Covington’s) done a good job. He’s a hard-working guy. He’s got a lot of ability. I think he does a lot of good things, and he’s got a good camp behind him.”
