Which Gym Does Colby Covington Train at After Leaving American Top Team? Coaches, Team & More

Colby Covington is quite the controversial figure, known for playing a villainous, brash, and deliberately rude character for UFC fans. Needless to say, his commitment to his craft has landed him trouble multiple times. Nevertheless, the Clovis-born welterweight remains a star and is making his long-awaited return this weekend at UFC on ESPN 63.

Covington started off his combat sports career with wrestling during his college days, being a former All-American wrestler. It was after college that he decided to dive right into MMA, which led him to join his first MMA gym at Coconut Creek in Florida.

Meet Cesar Carneiro and Daniel Valverde, Colby Covington’s coaches

Colby Covington started his MMA journey with the American Top Team when he joined the gym in 2012. There, he trained under head coach Mike Brown and was recruited by the owner of the gym, Dan Lambert, who also made some brief appearances on professional wrestling shows, notably for All Elite Wrestling. Meanwhile, some of the other renowned trainers and coaches from the famed Florida Gym include Conan Silveira, Thiago Alves, and Marcos Da Matta, just to name a few.

The American Top Team has many fighters who represent them in the UFC. Some of Colby Covington’s former teammates include friend-turned-foe Jorge Masvidal, former UFC fighter Joanna Jędrzejczyk, and former interim lightweight champion, Dustin Poirier.

‘Chaos’ had reached his biggest career milestone – winning the interim welterweight gold – while he was associated with the American Top Team. However, by the end of the last decade, things changed, and Colby Covington decided to move on to a new gym. There, the Clovis native met up with Cesar Carneiro and Daniel Valverde, who became new coaches.

Where does Covington train now? Gym and teammates

After eight years of association with the American Top Team, Colby Covington departed in 2020 to join another Florida-based gym, MMA Masters in Miami. Since then, ‘Chaos’ has been training under the aforementioned Cesar Carneiro and Daniel Valverde.

MMA Masters also has a plethora of former and current UFC fighters besides Colby Covington, including featherweight champion, Ilia Topuria. Other than the Georgian-Spaniard, Ricardo Lamas, Nate Landwehr, and Anthony Rocco Martin are a few notable names from the Miami-based gym.

Meanwhile, Covington was actually reported to have been shown the door in 2020 by the ATT gym owners themselves. But what actually led to the former interim welterweight champion’s being kicked out of his former gym? Ahead of his UFC Tampa clash against Joaquin Buckley, let us take a look at the reason behind his unceremonious exit from the American Top Team gym.

‘Chaos’ reveals the real reason behind fall out with ATT

In 2020, Colby Covington was kicked out of the American Top Team gym after nine years. The reason behind this was reported to be the 36-year-old’s conflicts with fellow stablemates. In a 2023 interview with the UFC, Colby Covington revealed the real culprit for being asked to leave ATT when he added former teammate Dustin Poirier‘s name alongside Islam Makhachev and Conor McGregor as his desired future opponents.

According to Covington, ‘The Diamond’ was responsible for having him kicked out of the gym, which stemmed from a complaint to the gym owner. He called out Poirier for a fight in the octagon but added that the lightweight star was too scared to face him.

“A guy by the name of Dustin Soreier [sic]. He’s the one that got me kicked out of my old gym by crying and having feelings, saying, ‘Oh, Colby is a mean person. Kick him out of our gym,’ while we get locked in an Octagon to hurt each other in our underwear on Saturday nights. I would love to square up with Dustin Soreier, but he’s afraid of me and he’s afraid of my shadow,” Colby Covington told ‘TNT Sports’.

Well, all these things are in the past now and Colby Covington is not necessarily someone who likes to dwell in the past. Now, all he’s focused on is to get his hands on the undisputed title and the route back to the title shot starts this weekend. Do you think Covington will be able to edge past Joaquin Buckley? Drop your comments below.