Robbie Lawler on Covington's Trash Talk: 'He's Doing What He Thinks He Needs To'

Robbie Lawler has never one to talk much ahead of a fight, claiming to prefer to make his statement once the cage door is locked. Lawler takes on Colby Covington this weekend at UFC Newark and says he isn’t fazed by the trash talk coming from his former teammate, even as Covington has tried to make it personal by talking about the reasons Lawler may have left American Top Team.

Covington has been vocal in the lead-up to Saturday night’s fight that Lawler turned his back on the team by leaving the gym to continue his training at the Hard Knocks 365 gym up the road in South Florida. Lawler says he’s not buying into the trash talk preferring to focus on himself, his training and his life outside of fighting (via MMAJunkie.com):

“I don’t really pay attention to those things,” Lawler told MMA Junkie ahead of UFC on ESPN 5. “It’s not a reflection of me. He’s doing what he thinks he needs to do to create whatever he needs to create and I’m just going to stay in my lane and train hard and get ready for [the] fight.

“I don’t really care (what he says). It doesn’t bother me. I’m happy, my family’s happy, I’m happy with where I’m going and how I’m doing. I don’t really look in the past and I’m trying to learn and keep growing and be a better fighter and be a better person.”

Covington has been told that a win over Lawler will guarantee him a future title fight against the current welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and Lawler says the same thing hasn’t been discussed with him if he wins on Saturday night:

“There’s been no discussion,” Lawler said. “I’m just focusing on Saturday and getting home and hopefully start working out on Monday and take a few days off then go on a mini-vacation and get back to work the following Monday. It’s just business as usual. Day to day, get my weight down, focus on those things. I’m not really focused on what Dana’s doing or what he said, she said or those aspects of life. It’s just not that important for me.”

Lawler believes Covington will try and mix it up during the fight but will inevitably shoot for a takedown and try to beat him using his wrestling which is something “Ruthless” is preparing for:

“Obviously all the fights start standing, but he’s going to mix it up on his feet and be well rounded and disguise stuff and keep me off guard,” Lawler said. “I’m definitely ready for stand up and wrestling. … I always try to get knockouts, I always envision knockouts and when I’m training I hit the heavy bags and the pads like I’m going out there and taking somebody out. That’s always the main goal: Go out and be devastating and put some punishment on somebody.”