Colby Covington caused a stir by releasing sparring footage of Dustin Poirier ahead of his big trilogy fight against Conor McGregor at UFC 264.
On Tuesday, the former interim welterweight champion shared a video on social media of Poirier dropping a training partner with a hard right hand.
Covington’s caption along with the video attempted to make Poirier seem like he was in the wrong for the knockdown and his celebration after, although multiple fighters came to his defense as the video made the rounds on social media.
Poirier himself responded to another Twitter user who reposted the video to clarify that it was not an amateur fighter he was sparring with at the time. The sparring partner was Felipe Douglas, a Titan FC veteran with over 20 professional bouts.
This is a pro fighter with 20 wins
This is a pro fighter with 20 wins https://t.co/0rEGN3bf53
— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) July 6, 2021
Poirier clarified further in an interview on Tuesday evening.
“I didn’t want people to think that was an amateur kid or something like that,” Poirier said when speaking to Farah Hannoun with UFC Arabia. “That was a professional fighter. I mean, that’s what happens in gyms during hard sparring, real sparring. There’s times when you drill, and train, and stuff like that, but there’s times where you hard spar and that was a hard sparring session.”
Dustin Poirier responds to sparring video that Colby Covington leaked. Full interview coming to @UFCarabia pic.twitter.com/sAJ7ZokcyL
— Farah Hannoun (@Farah_Hannoun) July 6, 2021
As many other fighters have come to Poirier’s defense to say similar things about the video, Covington’s attempt to paint Poirier as a bad guy in this instance may have fallen a little short of his expectations.
Poirier takes on McGregor in the main event of UFC 264 on Saturday in Las Vegas in a trilogy fight to settle the score on their rivarly.