[autotag]Colby Covington[/autotag] broke a promise to keep things civil with his teammate, and now he regrets it.
It’s no secret how his fellow teammates at American Top Team feel about him, but there’s one fighter in particular that Covington regrets talking trash about.
His beef with [autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] stemmed from last September, when Covington picked Khabib Nurmagomedov over him in their UFC lightweight title fight at UFC 242, which Poirier didn’t take too well.
Following his loss to Nurmagomedov, Poirier was asked if he’d ever fight his teammate Jorge Masvidal, and he responded by taking a jab at Covington, saying that he wouldn’t be a sellout like him.
That resulted in some back-and-forth between the two, with Poirier even warning Covington, that it could get ugly if the two crossed paths at the gym.
In an interview with ESPN Monday night, Covington said things are now civil between him and Poirier at the gym, but it likely wouldn’t be if they were in the streets, because Poirier would just run.
But looking back, Covington regrets what he said, issuing an apology to Poirier.
“I want to make a little apology; I got out of line yesterday,” Covington told MMA Junkie. “I can be a bigger man and admit when I’m wrong, and I broke a promise of Dan Lambert, and I feel extremely ashamed of myself doing that. I thought that – you know I was caught in the moment, and I got caught off guard with a question yesterday when asked about Dustin Poirier, and I kind of regret it. I wish I didn’t go so hard on him.
“He’s a teammate, he’s a friend now, we have no personal beef anymore. It’s just business, and everything needs to keep calm and good at American Top Team, and I don’t want anymore issues with that. I just want to move on. He’s a different weight class, and I’m going to focus on what’s important and what’s ahead of me and that’s either ‘Marty Fakenewsman,’ ‘Journeyman’ Jorge Masvidal or ‘Tyquil’ Woodley.”
In addition to the apology, it appears Covington smoothed things over directly with “The Diamond,” as well, with “Chaos” posting a picture with Poirier and also issuing an apology on Instagram.
Covington may still have his issues with other teammates like Masvidal and Joanna Jedrzejczyk, but he assures that everything is under control, thanks to American Top Team owner and his manager, Dan Lambert.
“Dan Lambert does a great job of keeping the gym divided and making sure everybody, when they go there, it’s just business,” Covington said. “Keep the arguments to the side, keep your business to the side, but when we come to the gym, we’re a family, we’re a team, and we need to work together, and we need to work together in peace.
“It’s a big enough gym where we can have people who don’t like each other or have their feelings hurt about other pro fighters, but it’s OK. You can still go about your business and working for what you want in you career, so everything’s pretty smooth and good over there right now.”
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