Walt Harris: Colby Covington ‘alienated a large percentage’ of American Top Team

NEW YORK — Walt Harris likes Colby Covington and he says the two are cool. The UFC heavyweight just thinks Covington took things maybe a step too far last weekend in Brazil.

Covington, after beating Demian Maia for his biggest career victory to date, ripped into the UFC Sao Paulo crowd, saying Brazil is a “dump,” and the fans in attendance were “filthy animals.” The remarks have brought a backlash, including from those involved with his American Top Team gym. Former head coach Ricardo Liborio, Antonio Silva and Amanda Nunes have all taken to social media to denounce Covington’s comments.

Harris, who meets Mark Godbeer at UFC 217 on Saturday at Madison Square Garden, is a longtime ATT member, though he has been training recently in Alabama. He wasn’t a huge fan of what Covington said.

“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.”

What Harris really didn’t appreciate was Covington’s shots at Liborio. After Liborio spoke out against Covington’s post-fight speech in Brazil, Covington blasted the former ATT head man in an interview with Bloody Elbow. Covington called Liborio a “conman,” a “scumbag” and a “piece of shit.”

“[Liborio] means a lot to me,” Harris said. “That kind of bugged me a little bit. Ricardo has done a lot for me in my career, he’s helped me a lot. So for me to hear him speak about him in that light, it was bad, man. He basically just called him a bunch of names. It’s bad, man. He set a lot of guys off.”

UFC welterweight veteran Ben Saunders, too, took umbrage with Covington’s disparaging remarks about Liborio, who helped found American Top Team with Dan Lambert and the Silveira brothes, Conan and Marcus.

Harris, 34, said he still wishes Covington well, but he believes he went “a little too far” in trying to play this pro-wrestling heel persona.

“I just want him to keep winning, keep doing his thing, because I believe in karma,” Harris said. “I believe every dog has their day and you can’t go throwing people under the bus for the sake of trying to set yourself on a higher plateau. I feel like he’s doing well right now. Being the heel is cool — you need a heel — but there’s a level of, ‘OK, I’m being heel and I’m just going a little too far.’ I feel like he just went a little too far.”

As for Harris, who stepped in on just hours notice to fight Fabricio Werdum last month at UFC 216, he said he doesn’t feel the need to talk trash to get himself over with the fans, although in this era of the UFC that is very much encouraged.

“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.”