MMA Fighting - Colby Covington Details ATT Split, Rips Jorge Masvidal, Dustin Poirier

Episode Date: May 28, 2020

Colby Covington joined MMA Fighting's Damon Martin to explain why he left American Top Team, had some choice words for now former teammates Jorge Masvidal and Dustin Poirier, and more.  Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With Instacart, you get groceries that over-deliver, like when you get groceries that are the same prices in-store. With no markups that select retailers, you get in-store products for in-store prices, and the only thing that isn't in-store is you. That means you could order in-store products at in-store prices while you're in sweatpants, in spin class, in stuffy work meeting, in anywhere but in store. So download the app today and get $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Service fees exclusions in terms apply. Colby, obviously, I appreciate you taking the time doing this today. Obviously, a lot's going on right now. Before I get to anything else, man, how are you during the quarantine?

How's your family out in Oregon? I know it's kind of a crazy time right now. How are you guys doing? We're all good, man. We're all healthy. We're all safe. So, you know, thankful for that. What about you?

How's your family? We're good. We're good. Luckily, I work from home anyway. So, like, my life doesn't change all that much, you know? So it's actually not all that bad. But I know you're separated from your family, you know, living in Florida and they're out in Oregon. So just want to make sure.

sure they're doing okay. So it sounds like everyone's good. Absolutely, bro. Healthy and trucking along, just, you know, trying to get better and just, you know, not do all in this situation too much and just, you know, stay positive. Yeah, absolutely. So, Colby, of course, the news got out there today. You have officially moved on for American Top Team. And I got to be honest, man, I was kind of shocked at this news because you've been such a huge part of that team. Literally, they recruited you out of college coming into wrestling. And I just honestly, thought you would never leave just because you had such deep ties with that team and the coaching staff.

Kind of walked me through. Like what ultimately, you know, what ultimately led to your decision to move on from there? Yeah, what ultimately led to my decision to move on is, you know, I wasn't going to have someone try and control me and tell me what to do, you know. As Americans, we do have freedom of the speech and opinion. Is that right, Damon? Absolutely, we do. Exactly.

So when someone tries to take away my freedoms, you know, as an American and everybody knows I'm America's son and I fight for America. I fight for the troops. I'm not okay with that, you know. And there's no hard feelings. It's not like a bad breakup and a bad relationship where I'm going to talk trash about them. I have nothing but nice things to say about American top team. Dan Lambert is one of the greatest guys I've ever met.

He's like a second father to me. I mean, I still talk to him. He's my friend still and he's still a mentor. And, you know, I made some promises to him that I'm still going to make, you know, and like bringing him Marty Fake Newsman's head. But, you know, it was time to move on, Damon, to be honest. I mean, he gave me an opportunity, you know, but I returned the favor as well, Damon. He got me out of college.

You know, we went to the top of the sport together. We won a world title. And, you know, there's something that I did for him that no one could ever do for him. And that's take him to the White House, you know. And I know that's something that he holds very dearly because he respects and loves Trump a lot. So, you know, that was an amazing moment that I was able to kind of return what he did for me. He invested a lot of money and time into me and my training. And I could never, you know, stop being.

and thankful for that and what he did for me. He gave me an opportunity right away at a college, and, you know, I ran with this. So, you know, it's not a bad, it's not nothing. This is the best thing that could ever happen, you know, the sunsets, the sunrises, and the butter, you know, to be honest, Damon, the best way to put it is the bird outgrew the nest. Yeah. Obviously, we knew about, you know, there was some bad blood between you and some of the

folks in the gym, but not everybody. I know you saw the piece I wrote on you before the fight with Usman. You know, so many of your teammates spoke well about you. Obviously, you said you were a great team. and all the stuff outside the gym didn't bother them. But obviously, you did have beef with a couple people. Obviously, George Mazadol and Dustin Porre are two at the top of the list. And I know Dan had kind of issued that, you know, no trash talking edict.

And I know you love Dan Lambert. But seeing how that kind of played out, and obviously, George was still taking shots at you publicly and things like that. And there was a little bit of bad blood there with you go on and things like that. Like, did any of that body? Did any of that kind of lead to like just saying, hey, it's just time for me to move on and not really have to deal with this anymore. Yeah, absolutely. you know, Damon, to be honest, people saw what was going on. You know, it was no secret what was going on behind scenes and what was transpiring, you know.

And, you know, a lot of people were sensitive, you know, mainly fucking doofus Dustin and Street Judas Nostodal. They have feelings, and they don't want to fight me in the cage. They'd rather go cry to Dan Lambert and beg him to protect their precious little feelings because they know if they fight me in a cage, they know what's going to happen. I'm going to tear them limb from limb. but you know the thing is dam is i'm not in the feelings business i'm in the money-making business and i'm in the colby covington business that's why you know this was the biggest thing is i'm in colby covington incorporated now i'm not no i'm not affiliated with a team i'm my own team you know and i'm a big enough fighter and i'm an experienced veteran in the game that

that knows how to win and i'm a proven winner so you know i know the formula that it takes dam i'm going to bring in good coaches which i already have i brought in some good coaches some good training partners and i'm training hard every single day and i promise you dammy you have a seen the best of me. I'm just getting started. My best is yet to come, and I'm going to show you something you've never seen before from me in my next fight. Obviously, American top team is an incredible place. I've been there. Dan Lambert, one of the best people in the sport. So this is not a dig on them whatsoever, because that is a phenomenal gym, a phenomenal team. But where you're at in your career in terms of financial stability, obviously you made a lot of money

over your last few fights, sponsorships, endorsements, things like that. One big difference with MMA and boxing is when a boxer has a big fight coming up, let's say Floyd Mayweather, or Manny Packy, out whoever it is, they kind of tailor their training camp just around them. It's just about them. They bring in sparring partners for them. They bring in coaches for them. And it's really kind of like an individual kind of selfish thing. Now, we don't do that as much at MMA, and that's a big difference.

Do you feel like that's one thing you can actually benefit from? Because now you can kind of pick and choose who you work with and kind of tailor your training a little bit more selfishly in a way. you know you couldn't have put it better than that right there you know and and that was the biggest thing you know is i can't keep worrying about someone else because i need to worry about myself damon and this is not a team business we when i get into that octagon damon it's just me and the other opponent you know by myself that's it there is no team so you know all this little team stuff and and oh we're teammates and this and that that's all out the window this is this is an individual

business these are independent contractors in the show business entertainment you know sport. So, you know, it only made sense for me to form my own team and bring my own coaches and just tailor all my training camps specific to my one fight and this and that. You know, I was still going in TATT and helping out the amateurs, helping out the low-level finals, just giving knowledge back, doing this and that. You know, and these are things that people are never going to talk about because, you know, I'm such a hated man that they'd rather just bring up all the negative or bring up the fact that I support Trump and that just all of a sudden makes me a racist and a cancer. So, you know, it's all fake news out there, and don't believe anything you hear, you know,

and I only believe about 20% of what you see. Yeah. Now that the, you know, now that the changes are off, so to speak, and you are free to speak your mind, what is your opinion on a guy like George Madison or Dustin Porey? Because I know you'd actually issued an apology to Dustin, and I know that that kind of played back into all the things that were going on behind the scenes, and I'm not going to ask you to reveal what really happens, because I know there's some confidence as you have here, Dan Lambert, and those guys.

but now that it's all said and done, now that you're not beholden to that any longer, what is your opinion of George and Dustin specifically? Because I think those were kind of the two guys you had the most public clashes with out of the team. Outside of Woodley, but obviously Woody didn't really train at the main academy. And then the best way I can put it is, Joanna Jordecich is a cunt, Dustin Dufus Pori is a bitch, and Jorge Street Judas Mossadol is a pussy.

and Jorge running all these narratives to the news. Oh, he's my teammate. I can't find him. Guess what, Damon? I'm not your teammate no more. I'm not your roommate, but I'm still your fucking daddy, bitch. So what's your excuse now, George? I'm ranked higher.

I got a better record. I'm more relevant. Why won't you fight me now? Want to know why he won't fight me, Damon? Because I'm still as fucking daddy, and I give him spanking. You obviously, you know, since the fight with Usman, I know that that is the rematch you want. But if that doesn't,

happen for whatever reason. Is the Mazidol, is that the fight now that you'd like to have most out of anything that's out there? Yeah, I think it's the most juicest. You know, no, I still want the Marty Fake Newsman fight the most just because I want my redemption and my revenge on a level playing field, a fair playing field, not one where a ref helping him, and I'm fighting against two guys and one night, you know, let's, I want a fair playing field and the world's going to find out, you know, who's the best fighter in the world. That's me right now. But there's just something so intriguing about this fight with Journeyman Street, Judith Mousseldahl. I mean, he's been running this big game.

Like, he's so fucking tough. He's Miami's gangster. Guess what, bitch? I run Miami. I'm the king of Miami. I run 305, so we could do it. I'm Mr. Worldwide. We could do it in Miami.

Any single day, I promise you, Damon, this ain't just talk. If I see that guy in the street, he's getting slapped the fuck up and dropped on his head. And he knows that. Deep down inside, he knows he can't stop me. So all the bullshit narrative that Jorge Mostodov and Dustin, Dufus Pori have had in the media before. Oh, Kobe's my team, man.

I can't fight and they can't say, hey, guess what, bitch? You ain't got none to say. Direct your complaints at me. All you little fucking snowflakes directing your feelings that Dan Lambert, a multi-millionaire business, man. Dude, you're fucking grown-ass adult professional cage fighters and your precious little feelings are hurt, and you're going crying to fucking Dan Lambert.

Guess what, bitch? I'm the head of the complaint department, not Dan Lambert. And guess what? I don't give a fuck about your feelings or your complaint. Come see me in the octagon, but you ain't going to do that because you're fucking scared. And you mentioned you're the king of my. Miami, you're staying in Florida. You're not going anywhere else for your training camp.

You're going to build your camp in Florida. You know, I'm just going to take it day by day. You know, the sun rises, the sunsets, you know, and it's a day-by-day process, you know. I'm going to definitely bring people out here to Florida for the time being. You know, I'm not trying to move my life too drastically like this soon. You know, I have some business out here. You know, I have some real estate that I own.

So I'm not looking to just completely move my life across the country or world. right away. You know, I have enough money and support and backing that, you know, I'd like to bring in good training partners, bringing good coaches, and just, you know, just tailor my training camps around fight specific preparation. Now, I'm not going to ask you to name names, although if you want to name names, feel free, but can I imagine as soon as this news got out there, you probably got calls from other teams, other coaches wanting to work with you, because I know that's how this sport works.

People like working with high-level athletes, and I don't care about, you know, what you say publicly or, you know, whatever you support, whatever it is. You are, obviously, you know, one of the best fighters in the sport. Did you get those calls today or previously when people started getting the word that you weren't at ATT anymore? That's so funny you say that because my Uncle Cail son just called me right now, and he just left me a text, hey man, why don't you let me know? You know, I'd like to help you out. So, you know, dude, I got so many good connections in the MMA world.

You know, all the, I get such a bad rap through the press and everybody wants to say, you know, oh, Colby's not welcome anywhere, this and that. You know, yeah, I've said some things about a lot of fighters in my weight division that occupy a lot of the gyms around the world, but, you know, that doesn't stop, you know, a gym from wanting a winner in there, you know, I bring something, a new element and aspect to a team that, that they would never get otherwise, you know, I'm already a proven world champion fighter, and I'm going to be fighting for a world title and defending and getting another world title very soon again. So, you know, I think any team, you know, I can bring a lot of good things

to any teams, but, you know, I don't want to be a part of a team. That's the biggest thing is I am my own team. I'm Colby Chaos Covington Incorporated team, and that's all that matters, man. I'm not looking to help other teams anymore. I've already done that, man. You know, what's different about the ATT stuff is I started there. No one else started there. Dustin started in Louisiana. Jorge started in Miami at FFA. Joanna started in Poland. They all starts, I was a homegrown talent in American top team with Dan Lambert from the very start, and I was planning on finishing that. That was always my goal, you know, my promise to him. But, you know, things got a little bit too tough for him to handle. And at the end of the day, as a good friend of Dan Lambert, I don't

want to put him in that position anymore and make him still have to to deal with the drama every day. You know, he's a grown man. He's a millionaire. He deserves to enjoy the rest of his life. Not have a bunch of grown-ass fighter adults, uh, crying to him on the regular. Yeah. As I said earlier, I thought you beat ATT forever no matter what happened. Now that you're not, it's kind of a weird thing. Like, are you angry that it ended that way to get to leave? Or do you feel like in the long run, this is just going to be better for you? Yeah, to be honest, you know, I feel like this was the best thing to ever happen. You know, this is a blessing in disguise to me.

You know, one door closes, but another opens, you know, and these things happen. You just have to go with it. You can't resist the change, and you can't be negative about it and have doubts. You know, you just, you know, it's the best thing to ever happen. I feel like, honestly, like so much positivity in my life now and just, just a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders, Damon, because, you know, the last six months, you know, I'm going into ATT. Every time Dustin or George are in there, they're screaming across the thing.

Like, I'm like, let's go. You want to fight. Let's fight. Right now, stop talking this shit, trying to create drama in the gym, so they have to make a decision like this or have to do a drastic action. But no, they just want to scream in front of coaches and disrupt all the pro fighters' training because they don't respect Dan and they don't respect ATT. It's pathetic, man. Like, they get such a good rap in the media. Like, these are just such good guys.

But no one knows these people off the cameras. On the cameras, they play good guys, but off the camera, George and Dustin are pieces of shit and the lowest scum of the earth. You know, Dustin started a charity. for a tax write-off and he wants to claim like he's such a good guy. How are you a good guy for starting a charity for a tax write-off? You fraud, you piece of shit. And George, same shit. You know, you're out here fucking talking about how, oh, I'm the dining dash king.

I run out on these single mothers from Denny's who have tried to put food on the table for their single-parent family, you know, and he's claiming to be the king of that. And the guy's the biggest, lowest denominator of scum in the entire world. And I pray to God, Damon. I pray to God they let me fucking get. locked up in a cage with him because he knows what's going to happen. I will break his face. I will rip him limb from limb and he will never be the same person ever again. I promise you that, Damon. He will need a psychiatrist after I'm done with him.

Let me ask this, Colby, why I got you on the phone to move past the ATT stuff. We're in kind of a weird time in the Welterway Division where it looked like for the longest time we were going to see Usman and Mazvedal. Now Dana has suddenly said, you know, maybe there's something else interesting out there. Now, Matt, now Usman's talking about Connor. Obviously, you said you would love to fight Madswell, you would welcome that. Obviously, you want that rematch for this news, but we got Woodley fighting Burns this weekend. Like, can you give me the lay of the land?

What is going on in the Welchewa Division right now? Yeah, you know, the thing was, we can't even mention Woodley anymore. I mean, to be honest, UFC is over him, everybody else is over him. He's got to go out there and prove himself. He hasn't won a round or a fight in, like, what, two years? So he's irrelevant. You know, the UFC's only interested in Woodley fighting a guy named Leon Scott or a guy named Dilber.

So nobody knows who they are. They know he doesn't got it in him anymore, and they don't believe in Woodley. So, you know, he knew what was coming with me, and that's why he avoided the fight with me. So, you know, I'm over that business. That's been, that ship has sailed. You know, he's a 38-year-old virgin, and, you know, he's washed up. So I want to fight the best guys in the world, and, you know, that just so happens to be supposedly Marty Fake Newsman and this guy named Street Judas, Judas, who everybody knows Street Judas is a joke, man.

And he's got, like, what, 14 losses? You know, if Street Judas Mosidol won his next 20 fight statement, he still wouldn't have a better winning percentage of me in fighting. So that just shows you how much of a jobber he is and how much of a joke he is, and he's a 50-50 fighter. He got lucky. So I'm ready to fight him. I'm ready to fight Marty Fake Newsman the same night.

I would love to run that the same night. You know, I got energy for day. I don't get tired. After that last fight with Marty Fake Newsman, there's a reason I sprinted out of the arena because I still had five rounds in me. I was still pissed off it. I didn't exert all the energy that I could have exerted. So, you know, you're going to see the best me coming back this next fight.

Now I got a fire that lit so deep in me, Damon. I can't fucking sleep in night. I wake up and go train. I run and train. All I do is sleep eating and breathe fighting now. I want my world title, and I want to end Marty Fake Newsman and Street, Judith's life. What do you make of Usman calling out Connor McGregor? I make the, you know, he's a coward.

Why are you calling out a lightweight? Why are you calling out, you know, Connor McGregor? The guy was a featherweight. The guy's calling me and McGregor. Dude, first off, Comman McGregor's not going to fight you, Usman, because Uzman, one, you're not a draw, and two, you don't sell. So no one gives a shit about you. You got no charisma. You have the personality of a mop.

So that fight's never going to happen. He's just hyping up, trying, looking for anything else to avoid me because he knows we're going to rematch, and he knows that's the toughest fight he's going to get, and we're very evenly matched. But when there's not a rest to help save him and give him fake time out and not call the fake foul calls when he's hit me in the back of the head, it's going to be a completely different story. He knows that. So he's looking for these easier fights. There's one thing that I learned about Marty Fake Newsman, because, you know, I wobbled him multiple times in December,

multiple times had him wobbled and almost finished. You know, and I thought I took away all his brain cells, Damon, but I found out, you know what? He still has some brain cells because he's looking for these easier fights with lightweight in George Mossadol and Connor McGregor. So now with that being said, Colby, when we talked previously, you mentioned, obviously, you wanted the rematch with Ousman, and you were, you know, going to be ready to go.

sooner rather than later. Now, we're kind of in a weird time right now with the whole pandemic, and we're kind of getting the schedule moving again. What is your timeline? Because obviously now you're putting your new team together, your new coaches, you know, all the people are going to be working around. You're like, when do you want to fight? How soon do you want to fight again?

I was begging to let the UFC, let me save America. Let me save the sports world. Let me go out and retire soy boy Woodley on five days notice, and I offered those services. And they knew I was ready. We were negotiating. We were very close to come into terms, monetarily wise.

So I've been ready, Damon. Since December, man, people don't realize. I keep myself on the down low. I'm not out there on Instagram or Twitter. Hey, guys. I'm in the fucking gym today. I'm training. Look at me.

I'm getting better. No, I do my business behind closed doors. I'm getting better every single day. You haven't seen the best of me yet. I'm motivated. I'm inspired. And I've never been hungrier. So I'm ready to go whenever.

We can fight this weekend. If Dilbert gets hurt, your boy's going to be stepping up to save the day and finish off type of. little would be. Otherwise, I want my remack ASAP, next month, two months, whatever, whatever it takes for them to get ready. I don't got to get ready because I stay ready. Yeah, and I know you've got, I know you mentioned, you know, you got a great relationship with your team over Balangy, and I know you've mentioned that, you know, things that kind

of calm down. You and Dana, you know, I assume you and Dana are on okay terms now, and I know, Dana had mentioned, not that long ago, he said, you know, when somebody asked about the Mazmazvil-Side fight, he actually mentioned, you know, the Colby rematch is out there. Do you feel like that's the fight they want to make? The UFC wants that fight? I think that that's the fight to make. If you look at the numbers in it, you know, like everybody wants to see this, Damon. This is a real feud now.

Dude, we were best friends. We lived together. Man, we were trained together for nine years. Best friends never left each other's side. And then he backstabbed me, Damon, after I won the interim title in June and just completely destroyed our relationship because of money and fame. Like, the guy's a fucking sellout, dude. He sold his soul for money. You can see it every time he talks, dude.

the guy's a complete fraud. So, you know, Jorge's a sleazeball scarface wannabe. He can't read. He can't write. He can't spell. And he definitely can't fight. So there's a lot of things Jorge can't do. But you know what?

He can do good. He can do a real good job of being a piece of shit, Damon. Well, Colby, I tell you what, you know, I know a lot of people, you know, will say what they want to say. But at the end of the day, I think we're all excited to see you back in there. And, you know, I know that, you know, obviously leaving HGG, I'm sure it's tough, especially knowing your relationship with Dan Lambert. I know you are very close with him, and I know that that relationship maintained,

but obviously it sounds like you're in a better place, honestly. Sounds like you're ready to kind of build Team Colby. No more team anybody else. Now it's just Team Colby. Yep, that's right. This is the best thing that ever happening in me, man. It really is a blessing in disguise, and I'm super thankful for it. I'm thankful for the opportunity that I have with Dan.

I'm thankful that I fulfilled my death to Dan with how much I respect him, you know. He took me to the top of the sport. we did great things together. I took him to the White House, you know. So, you know, it was a give and take relationship. It wasn't a one-way street in that relationship. It was a two-way street.

We had a great relationship, and we will continue to have a great relationship. I promised him that I would bring in Marty Fake Newsman's head, and he promised me that he'd be front row when I fight Marty fake Newsman. So, you know, because obviously he knows George isn't going to fight Marty. And if he does, deep down, he knows that George has no chance against Marty. So, you know, I'm his only hope to beat Marty. And he knows I'm going to do that. So, you know, it's been great.

I'm thankful for it. There's no ill will, no ill feelings. It's just nothing but love, one love. And, you know, I'm just going to keep doing what I do, baby. Kobe K.S. Covington Incorporated. Now we're turning it up to 100, Damien, you ain't seen nothing yet. I promise you. They were holding me back before.

Now, nobody can hold me back. I'm my own boss. No one tells me what to do. I love it. I love it. Let me last thing, I'll close out on this. I know you talked about the possibility going to WWE. Maybe you don't need help on the microphone,

But if you go to WWE, you got to bring in Dan Lambert, man. I'm still shocked that guy doesn't have a job in WWE. That guy's so good on the mic. Maybe that's how you guys team back up down the road in WWE. You never know, man. That might be the next thing. I mean, Dan Lambert, everybody knows. That guy's a one take wonder.

He's one of the best guys that's ever seen with words and how to spin words and manipulate words. And his promo skills are second to none. I mean, he was up there, you know, we were in the back. And, you know, he was going back and forth to Jim Corrinet, you know, when we were doing our impact angle with TNAs. So, you know, that could be the way. You know, I'm definitely interested in forming an angle and doing some things over there in

WWE. I've had some talks with Bobby Lashley, you know, and I got my relationship with Kurt Angles, so I want to keep just growing that. And obviously, you know, we got Drew McIntyre the WWE champ. He's out there calling me. He's calling me out saying he wants to fight in a bar. He wants to do an unsanction fight. So let's do it, man.

he's acting like you're seven feet tall and he's a god he sucks damon come on you think he can really handle the people's champion yeah i i kind of had a chuckle of that and i don't have anything against drew mcintyre obviously but uh but calling out calling out one of the best ufc fighters in the world's probably not the smartest idea on his part if he's actually serious i don't know do you think he's serious you think it's just all about the uh all about the uh promotion i think he's just all about the promotion he's just trying to try to try to try to just fight things up and get people excited and make them think that, you know, he's one of the great fighters in the world, but he's running into America's champ and America's son, Colby Chaos Covington,

and he doesn't want to do that. You know, I'm going to send him back to Scotland crying to his mommy. Well, Colby, it is always a pleasure, my man. You know, I appreciate the time. I'm glad to hear you and the family are doing well during the quarantine. Glad everything worked out with you getting your new team and new coaching stuff and everything put together. And, you know, I always appreciate the time. Hopefully next time we're talking, it's when a football.

is booked, and we can talk about whoever it is you're going to be up next. I look forward to Damon. Good talking to you. Don't forget, you ain't black unless you vote Biden. Talk to you soon. Let everybody.