WATCH | Colby Covington narrowly avoids encounter with rival at UFC PI

Colby Covington is perhaps the most notorious trash-talker in the UFC. The long-time welterweight contender will talk trash about pretty much anybody, whether they compete in his weight class or not.

That has made him a lot of enemies.

Covington encountered one of those enemies during a recent visit to the UFC Performance Institute. This time, it was seemingly a former training partner in Themba Gorimbo. Covington streamed the issue on his Twitch channel. He could be seen darting into a stairwell after catching sight of his rival. He then climbed the stairs, stopping near the top to peek into the next room — seemingly to check if there was anybody else he needed to avoid in the building.

See it below, as captured by X user @FullContactMTWF.

Looks like Colby ran into Themba Gorimbo at the PI pic.twitter.com/oKwrweP3c7

— Borrachinha Depot (@FullContactMTWF) March 4, 2025

“You saw who was down there?” Covington could be heard asking his camera person. “The ungrateful motherf***er who we used to feed.

“I think we should just go train around him actually,” he added after leaving the room.

What makes this encounter particularly interesting is that Covington and Gorimbo, who both compete at welterweight, used to train together at MMA Masters in Florida. At that time, Gorimbo was one of the few people left in the MMA industry who were willing to openly defended Covington.

“Colby Covington, he’s such a great guy,” Gorimbo told the media after a 2023 win over Takashi Sato. “Sometimes, Colby Covington would [bring me food] at the gym. And people say what they want about him, but that guy is a great man. You have to know him to really know him, just like me.”

Covington and Gorimbo’s Falling Out

The pair later became hostile. That’s allegedly because Covington had an employee at the UFC PI kick Gorimbo out of the facility.

“He kicked me out of the PI in December 2023 when I was trying to train on the treadmill,” Gorimbo told MMA Fighting late last year. “The P.I. is for everybody, and he thought that the PI belonged to him. He was cutting weight to fight Leon Edwards, and I understand it can be tough.

“But I also was going to cut weight, but I don’t go to the P.I. and cut weight and chase everybody out of the P.I. just because I think I own the company. That for me is the trigger point.”

Gorimbo later went on to express interest in a fight with Covington. So far, he has been unable to get high enough up the welterweight ladder to earn a fight with the three-time former title challenger, but it’s possible the fight could still happen — whether Gorimbo works his way up, or Covington continues to fall.

Covington has now lost two-straight fights, first coming up short in his latest title shot against Edwards, and latter suffering a stoppage loss to Joaquin Buckley.