Colby Covington has come under a lot of fire for his comments after defeating Demian Maia in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night Sao Paulo.
Walt Harris is a part of American Top team with Covington and he feels that the welterweight fighter is alienating himself from a large percentage of the team.
“Honestly, man, Colby is my boy, but I feel like he alienated a large percentage of the gym, a large percentage of the coaches,” Harris told MMA Fighting. “It’s something I wouldn’t have done. You knew going into Brazil what it was gonna be like. I feel like as a fighter, as a professional athlete, you have a standard you have to set. You have to hold yourself to a higher standard. Don’t stoop to the level of some people who are obviously trying to get in your head to help their country.”
Covington recently stated in an interview after his comments that he doesn’t care much for his Brazilian teammates at ATT.
Harris isn’t much of a trash talker himself because he says that it is an aspect of the MMA game that isn’t a part of his character.
“I’ve been told, you should do this and do that, but that’s not my character,” Harris said. “I’m not gonna compromise who I am on a day-to-day basis to appease a group of people who only see me at a certain point in time. I feel like my character and my morals mean more. I get the whole ‘be the heel’ if that’s who you are, that’s who you are. I feel like Conor [McGregor], that’s naturally his thing. You can’t mimic Conor. I’ve seen guys try to do it and doesn’t go over well. Michael Bisping, you can’t mimic Bisping. That’s why the fans grab it. When it’s authentic, that’s when they grab it. And if you try to force it on them, they know. They know who’s doing a little too much.”
UFC 217 takes place on Saturday, November 4 from Madison Square Garden in New York, New York with Michael Bisping and Georges St. Pierre headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
