In the mixed martial arts (MMA) arena, Colby Covington is still public enemy No. 1 in Brazil, as the brash Welterweight has trashed the country repeatedly. So-much-so that his comments were under review by the code of conduct crew over at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
So if you’re Brazilian and you have any sort of ties with him, you are here-by considered a traitor. That’s according to Cris Cyborg, who bashed current UFC women’s Bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes for training in the same building with “Chaos.”
Furthermore, the fearsome striker says “Lioness” representing American Top Team is driving a knife in Brazil’s back even deeper.
“Creonte’ is a Brazilian word that means traitor,” Justino told FanSided. “I think it’s embarrassing that the UFC made Amanda the first female Brazilian champion and instead of representing Brazil when she fights, she calls herself American Top Team. She disrespects Brazilian MMA fans every time she walks into the cage as a part of American Top Team,” she added.
“This is the same gym as Colby Covington,” Cyborg said. ” He disrespected Brazil so badly that the UFC was worried they didn’t have enough security to keep him safe and had to move his fight against [Rafael dos Anjos] to the USA instead of Brazil.”
For his part, Covington has gone on record saying he doesn’t really mingle with many Brazilians at ATT, Nunes included, so training together is likely out of the question. Just ask “Bigfoot.” Still, the fact that Nunes is affiliated with Colby’s gym is bad enough, according to the Featherweight queen.
“Yet Nunes goes into the gym every day to train alongside Colby Covington and even shares the same coaches. Where I’m from in Brazil this would never happen. Imagine Chael Sonnen walking into Chute Boxe and training with Wanderlei Silva, Anderson Silva, or any of the coaches,” she said.
“Do you think they would have let him train after all the things he said about Brazil? No. They would have defended Brazil’s honor. Amanda doesn’t have that same respect for Brazil.”
But that’s not the only way Nunes has betrayed her native land. According to Cris, when Nunes called her out, it was another way of showing her true colors.
“When she called me out last year at first I didn’t want to fight her,” she said. “I wanted to see all the women divisions run by the Brazilians. Myself, Amanda, [Jessica] Andrade, we could have all been champions and I thought it would bring pride back to all of Brazil. But Nunes is from a Team of Creontes,’ she added.
“At American Top Team it is normal for teammates to fight each other. She called me out last year but then wanted a year before we can fight. When I fight her Dec. 29 it will be for everyone in Brazil, and it will be to teach Nunes a lesson about respect.”
Indeed, Cyborg and Nunes will collide once and for all at the upcoming UFC 232 pay-per-view (PPV) event on Dec. 29, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. And by the sound of it, painful lessons will be taught...and learned.