Watch: Ex UFC champion Colby Covington trains young fighters for the octagon

Colby Covington has garnered widespread notoriety for feuding with his friends/teammates. His UFC grudge match against friend-turned-foe Jorge Masvidal and long-running war of words with former training partner Dustin Poirier are notable instances of the same. Nevertheless, a video of Covington helping train younger teammates has now surfaced on the internet.

Covington trained at the ATT (American Top Team) gym in Florida from 2011 to 2020. The 34-year-old has been working at MMA Masters (also in Florida) since leaving ATT. That said, it's unclear as to when and where the video was shot.

The recent video, posted by the @thefightbubble Instagram account, features Colby Covington imparting valuable MMA knowledge to his training partners. The former interim UFC welterweight champion highlighted the importance of defending takedowns with the hips first rather than dropping one's hands and exposing oneself to incoming strikes. 'Chaos' said:

"Yeah, that's the number one thing in wrestling. A guy shoots in, meet him with the hips. It's gonna throw him off. And then, look to get your hips back or look to sprawl and get your hips to the ground. You don't wanna drop your hands. As soon as you start dropping your hands, that's when they come in with the overhand."

"Because you're dropping your hands, anticipating my takedown. You can't anticipate. You've gotta come in with your hands up, hips in. I'd rather take a shot to the stomach or a takedown than get a clean shot to the head. You're defending the takedown, they come over with the overhand to the chin; that's a KO. So, meet them with the hips."

Watch the video below:

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Anthony Smith on a potential fight between Colby Covington and Khamzat Chimaev

Late last year, UFC light heavyweight contender and analyst Anthony Smith weighed in on the much-discussed dream matchup between welterweight stars Colby Covington and Khamzat Chimaev.

Smith insinuated that the undefeated Chimaev — who's pursuing both the UFC welterweight and middleweight titles — may find it easier to beat reigning middleweight champion Alex Pereira than Covington.

UFC president Dana White previously hinted that the No. 2-ranked welterweight Covington could possibly face the No. 3-ranked Chimaev in the first quarter of 2023. In an edition of Michael Bisping's "Believe You Me" podcast, Anthony Smith alluded to the aforementioned possibility and labeled Covington a tough stylistic matchup for 'Borz.' Smith explained:

"I think the Colby Covington fight is a tougher fight than he [Chimaev] probably wants to admit publicly. Say what you want about Colby Covington – about his attitude, the sh*t that he says, the lines that he crosses – [but] that motherf***er can fight and he's tough as they come..."

Watch Smith's assessment below: