Colby Covington remarks blasted by Johnny Eblen

Colby Covington found the softest target and still swung like it was fight week. Dustin Poirier’s airport trouble was already ugly enough without an old American Top Team enemy turning it into content, but Covington did what Covington often does: he took a messy personal moment, turned it into insult comedy and attached it to a sponsor.

Johnny Eblen did not treat it like harmless heel work. The ATT middleweight, who meets Impa Kasanganay for interim middleweight gold at PFL Austin on July 18, was asked about Covington mocking Poirier after video circulated of the former interim UFC lightweight champion acting unruly with airport staff before an officer handcuffed him.

Eblen’s answer sounded less like media-room outrage than a gym guy hearing a familiar name take a cheap run at someone people around him still respect. He called the jab “so tasteless,” and the point landed because Covington’s post folded the public intoxication arrest, Father’s Day timing and a beer promotion into one grinning little package.

Colby Covington remarks on Dustin Poirier arrest draw Johnny Eblen fire

There is a difference between fight promotion and picking through someone else’s worst evening for scraps. Covington has built a career on hostility, political theater and personal needling, so nobody should be shocked that he went after Poirier. Still, the material was different this time. Poirier was not trading barbs over a contract, a ranking or a staredown. He had been detained after an alcohol-related incident at an airport, and Covington immediately made it part of his public act.

Eblen’s criticism cuts sharper because of the ATT thread running through the story. Covington trained there before the relationship soured, Poirier has long been one of the gym’s defining UFC names, and Eblen is tied to that same South Florida ecosystem. When Eblen framed Covington as chasing relevance off another fighter’s mistake, he was not analyzing a brand from a distance. He was reacting to a former teammate figure taking aim at a man whose reputation in the sport is far larger than one bad clip.

American Top Team history gives the feud extra bite

The Covington-Poirier tension has never needed much help. Both men came through ATT, both became interim UFC champions in different divisions, and Covington has repeatedly shown that shared rooms and old training partners do not protect anyone from his mouth. Eblen made clear he would welcome a wrestling answer, especially with Covington now involved in Real American Freestyle.

• Dustin Poirier was arrested after an alcohol-related airport incident.
• Colby Covington mocked Poirier online and tied it to a beer promotion.
• Johnny Eblen criticized the attack while discussing it with Bowks Talking Bouts.
• Eblen is booked to rematch Impa Kasanganay at PFL Austin on July 18.

Johnny Eblen eyes Covington and Chimaev wrestling matchups

The useful part of Eblen’s response was not the insult; it was the matchmaking breadcrumb that followed. He liked the idea of wrestling Covington and Khamzat Chimaev under the Real American Freestyle banner, provided the money and opponent made sense. RAF can trade on stories MMA promotions cannot always book inside the cage. Covington brings name value and bad blood. Chimaev brings the aura of a mauling grappler. Eblen brings a championship-level MMA résumé and the wrestling-first pride that fits the format.

For Covington, a wrestling match with Eblen would be visible, combustible and outside the UFC win-loss column. For Eblen, it would put him in front of a UFC-heavy audience without waiting for a cross-promotional miracle. The middleweight conversation also benefits from this kind of side-stage gravity, because fighters such as Eblen and Chimaev can keep their names moving through credible grappling or wrestling contests while MMA calendars crawl.

Covington’s persona has survived years of backlash because it usually points toward a fight, a payday or both. Eblen’s pushback is different because it challenges the taste of the tactic while offering Covington a physical answer on the mat. For now, the confirmed date belongs to Eblen and Kasanganay at PFL Austin on July 18.