Ever since American Top Team (ATT) fighter Colby Covington set the nation of Brazil on fire with his post-fight speech, a divide has been made over at ATT.
For years ATT has housed MMA’s best fighters on the planet. A massive fight camp with fighters from all over the world, when Colby Covington insulted Brazil, he also insulted a bunch of his teammates.
In the days following UFC Fight Night 119, ATT founder Ricardo Liborio released a statement alluding that he left the team as a result of Covington’s disrespect.
Taking to his Instagram, Liborio stated, “I feel that I must make a statement in light of the comments made by Colby Convigton along with the amount of messages sent to me from Brazil, the United States, and from all over the world. I’m here to state that I am no longer with American Top Team. Also, I absolutely do not condone any behavior that instigates hate, prejudice, or bullying of any kind. It upsets me to see the sport taking this direction of blatant disrespect. It’s unsportsmanlike, but it also fosters and promotes a culture of cruelty towards others. Combat Sports should always represent the qualities of humility, empathy, and respect. I dedicated my life to the Martial arts, and to the formation and growth of this team. I can not discuss at this time the reasons for my departure from ATT. At some point, I will. For the time being, I want the members of ATT to know that they will always be in my heart”
Now, ATT millionaire owner Dan Lambert chimes in to reveal what’s really going on inside his recently embattled fight camp. (via mmafighting)
“I counted him among my good friends. I’m f*cking stunned that he would put out something misleading like that to put himself over. It really pisses me off. It really rubs me the wrong way. … It’s just not right. What the f*ck? Get over yourself.”
“I agreed to keep him on the payroll as long as he came down to the gym and trained the guys a couple days a week. He agreed and never showed up.”
“There’s a lot of f*cking tension right now. There was none whatsoever before. I kept the guy on my payroll for 18 months.
“Libo is my friend. He’s been my friend for 15 years. He’s got some family issues. I think I did him a solid by keeping him on the payroll for a year and a half.”
“I never announced anything. I didn’t want to throw him under a bus and say he’s not with the team anymore. Whatever. There was no need to — who cares? But then for him to somehow try to imply that he left the team to be a martyr for the honor of Brazil? That’s a bad move. That’s misleading, it’s deceitful. It just shocked me.” Lambert said in regards to Liborio’s post about Colby Covington.
“I don’t think anyone cares. People don’t care about coaches. It’s an individual sport. People care about fighters. Nobody cares about Liborio or me or Conan [Silveira] or our coaches. They just don’t. I don’t have an ego big enough to think people give a shit.”
“It upsets me to see the sport taking this direction of blatant disrespect. It’s unsportsmanlike, but it also fosters and promotes a culture of cruelty towards others. Combat sports should always represent the qualities of humility, empathy, and respect.
“I dedicated my life to the martial arts, and to the formation and growth of this team and I want the members of ATT to know that they will always be in my heart.”
