"They started getting jealous" - Colby Covington explains what led him to verbally attack Dustin Poirier and other ATT teammates
Colby Covington has explained what caused him to verbally attack his former ATT (American Top Team) teammates such as Dustin Poirier and Joanna Jedrzejczyk. For close to a decade, ‘Chaos’ trained at ATT before shifting base to the MMA Masters gym in 2020.
Speaking to ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto, Covington revealed why he’s taken aim at his former teammates, particularly highlighting his attacks against Poirier and jibes at Jedrzejczyk. The former interim champ stated:
“Journalists out there can go look at the history or timeline of events of who started running their mouth first. I never said nothing to Joanna. I never said nothing to Dustin. They started getting jealous of my success and that I was rising up. And they’re such egomaniacs. They didn’t like that someone was next to them in the gym that was on that same level in the UFC."
He added:
"So, they started trashing me in the media, ‘Oh, f**k Colby and his antics. Oh, he’s a piece of sh** person, dirtbag…’ Okay. Yeah. You wanna say things about me, don’t think I’m not gonna say the truth right back to you.”
Covington proceeded to jibe at former UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. He asserted that he never spoke ill of Jedrzejczyk, claiming that the Polish fighter used to send him DMs and wanted to go out on dates with him. According to 'Chaos', she started criticizing him in the media as he didn’t pay attention to her advances.
Furthermore, Covington alluded to Dustin Poirier saying that he’d fight him “on sight.” The 34-year-old pointed out that Poirier extended his support to Robbie Lawler before the latter’s fight against ‘Chaos'. He further emphasized that he used to help 'The Diamond' with his wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu training but didn’t get anything in return.
Watch Colby Covington’s conversation with Brett Okamoto below:
Dustin Poirier on why he won’t fight Colby Covington in the UFC
Colby Covington will fight former friend and longtime ATT member Jorge Masvidal in a welterweight matchup that’ll headline UFC 272 on March 5th. Their grudge match is shaping up to be one of the biggest fights of the year. It is set to go down at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, this weekend.
During a media scrum last month, Dustin Poirier asserted that he’ll never face Covington in the UFC as he doesn't want ’Chaos’ to earn money from a fight against him. ‘The Diamond’ insinuated that they could end up fighting outside the realm of professional competition and probably land up in jail.
Poirier said:
"No. I'll never fight [Colby Covington] in an octagon where there's finances on the line. If I'm fighting Colby we're both going to jail. I'm going to jail."
Watch Dustin Poirier at the UFC 271 post-fight press conference below:
Dustin Poirier is coming off a disappointing loss to Charles Oliveira at UFC 269 last year. He is rumored to be taking on Nate Diaz next, in what many believe to be Diaz's last fight in the UFC.