Former Strikeforce champ Josh Thomson believes Colby Covington’s public split from American Top Team is coming back to haunt him following UFC Tampa.
Colby Covington‘s nasty split from American Top Team-Florida is being revisited as a possible cause of his fighting struggles in light of his doctor’s stoppage loss at UFC Tampa.
Covington lost to Joaquin Buckley in the UFC Tampa main event on Saturday to drop his second consecutive fight. After taking heavy shots from Buckley over the first 2 1/2 rounds of the fight, the doctor was brought in to inspect Covington’s deep gash just above his right eye, and she waved off the fight after predicting the UFC star was close to losing his eyelid.
Covington has dropped four of his last six fights, including a third UFC title loss to Leon Edwards at UFC 296 last year. The loss to Buckley set him a few steps back from the title shot conversation, particularly with his recent history of inactivity.
Covington looked like a shell of his former self inside the Octagon with the red-hot Buckley. This was his latest camp at MMA Masters in Florida, after joining the team following a public divorce from ATT-Florida following multiple incidents.
Josh Thomson pinpoints Colby Covington’s ATT split as root cause of UFC struggles
During a recent episode of the Weighing In podcast, Josh Thomson pinpointed the possible root cause of Covington’s recent struggles.
“Not taking anything away from Joaquin Buckley, but when you train at a prestigious gym like American Top Team, and you’ve found your way out of it, now you’re running your own camp and doing your own thing without a whole lot of people to train with that are at the top level. When you just left the gym that had a plethora of world-class fighters there, you saw it tonight,” Thomson said of Covington. “I know he’s older, but let’s be honest, since he’s left American Top Team he doesn’t look like the same person. After half of the first round, he was taking deep breaths. I don’t want to say he was winded, he was having a hard time catching his second wind or breaking that first wind.
“That can be common if he didn’t warm up well enough in the back…but not having the talent that he needs to kind of help him push his pace in training, is what I feel like I’m seeing right now,” Thomson continued. “I’m seeing a fighter who is having a hard time setting a pace that he’s not able to do inside the cage against world-class fighters because he doesn’t have world-class fighters to train with anymore…he’s gotta work some things out.”
Covington was kicked out of ATT-Florida after several altercations with teammates at the gym, most notably Jorge Masvidal. Covington and Masvidal squared off at UFC 272, and Masvidal allegedly assaulted Covington outside a Miami-area steakhouse just weeks after the event.
Covington also got into public feuds with ATT teammates Dustin Poirier, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and other top names at the gym. After defeating Masvidal at UFC 272, Covington called out Poirier for a fight, although negotiations never materialized.
Colby Covington’s UFC future cloudy after UFC Tampa setback
Covington was reportedly in the mix to potentially fill for the ailing Belal Muhammad at UFC 310 against Shavkat Rakhmonov. But, the UFC ultimately went with Ian Machado Garry as a replacement, and Covington took Garry’s UFC Tampa slot instead.
Covington hasn’t returned to the win column since defeating Masvidal at UFC 272, falling to Edwards last December and dropping two title fights against Kamaru Usman. After UFC Tampa, Covington’s path to another potential title shot is becoming narrower as the division adds new contenders.
For Thomson, Covington’s current UFC chapter might’ve been different if he remained at ATT and rebuilt the bridges he arguably destroyed with teammates and coaches. As he plots his next move, Covington is running out of time for another potential run at UFC gold.