Colby Covington responds to “joke” ATT co-founder Ricardo Liborio

Yesterday afternoon American Top Team co-founder Ricardo Liborio took to Instagram with a post that announced his departure from the gym, and also condemned the recent anti-Brazil comments of ATT staple Colby Covington.

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❤

A post shared by Ricardo Liborio (@liboriobjj) on Oct 30, 2017 at 11:41am PDT

Speaking to BloodyElbow.com, Colby Covington has now responded to Liborio’s scathing condemnation. In his response, Covington reaffirms previous comments from ATT owner Dan Lambert, explaining that Liborio has not been actively involved with the team for some time.

“Ricardo Liborio is a joke,” Covington said. “That guy’s been out of ATT for over two, three years. That guy’s a complete joke trying to use my name and my fame and the stuff with Brazil to put him over and make him look like the good guy from ATT.

“He’s been out of ATT for a while; he was using Dan Lambert, the ATT owner. He was using Dan. He was picking up these paychecks two or three years ago, never showing up to work. That guy is a conman, he’s a scumbag, and he’s acting like a piece of sh-t trying to use my name to put him over.”

Covington also explained why he’s not particularly bothered by criticisms from some of his other ATT stablemates.

“I’m ATT to the bone. I have my close circle of people, my clique — Jorge Masvidal, Mike Brown, Dan Lambert,” Covington said. “I’m not friends with everybody. It’s a gym, but this is a one-man sport.”

Where do you stand on Colby Covington’s recent comments?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 10/31/2017.