Colby Covington may be public enemy No. 1 in Brazil, but that isn’t the case in his gym over at American Top Team (ATT), home to many of today’s top Brazilian stars. According to ATT head coach Conan Silveira, despite what many may lead you to believe, Colby has no beef with any of his teammates.
“He doesn’t have any problem with teammates or coaches, Brazilians, not Brazilians, Americans – he doesn’t have any problem with anyone here in the house,” Silveira told MMAjunkie.
While Conan doesn’t necessarily promote Colby’s knack for upsetting an entire country of people with his trash talk, he can appreciate the fact that Covington is backing it all up with wins inside the cage.
“I wouldn’t be a fighter that would go that path, but that’s me,” Silveira said. “What people should see is that 90 percent of fighters that criticize him want to do what he’s doing, want to get what he’s getting. Colby’s not only talking, but he’s doing. As much as people don’t like to recognize that, he’s trash-talking, but he’s fighting and winning and getting there.”
At the end of the day, Silveira reiterates the peace among everyone around Colby and says it isn’t his or any other coach’s job to reel “Chaos” in, as being a parent is not in his job description.
“In the house, no problem at all,” he continued. “He’s a cool guy with everybody. Brazilian coaches or American coaches, it doesn’t matter. His opinion has to do with him. We’re not his parents here. We’re trainers,” he concluded.
As for what’s next for Covington, he is still trying his best to score a title fight against division champion Tyron Woodley. One “The Chosen One” doesn’t seem too thrilled to take part in.
And while Conan may be conflicted to an extent if and when they do fight due to Woodley’s affiliation with ATT, he says he will not stand in Covington’s way of fighting a member of the squad in order to fulfill his own combat sports dreams.