CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – JUNE 09: Colby Covington warms up backstage with former training partner Jorge Masvidal during the UFC 225 event at the United Center on June 9, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
The bout between Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal has been speculated to be in the works for a few weeks before finally being made official. The news was first reported by ESPN.
The fight is scheduled to take place at UFC 272 as the main event. UFC 272 was first expected to be headlined by Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, but Holloway was forced to withdraw due to injury two days after the fight was announced.
Origins of Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal feud
It is no secret Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal dislike each other. But that wasn’t always the case. The two men used to be good friends during most of their time together at American Top Team, which Covington left after his loss to Kamaru Usman at UFC 245.
Covington shared his side of the story of how the feud began during an interview with The Mac Life:
“It was 3 years ago or 2.5 years ago when I was in the locker room and I’d just beat Rafael dos Anjos for the interim title and the President had called me that day… I think he saw all the hype I was generating and he didn’t like that. He has a big ego and he couldn’t put his ego aside for the friendship. He didn’t like that I was getting the spotlight more and I was rising above him in the ranks.”
Masvidal had a different story to tell on Dan LeBatard’s show in September of 2019:
“He ripped off my coach, that was his coach. We were with him until his title fight. After he won the title, he owed him a certain amount of money, didn’t pay him. I said, ‘if you don’t pay him, I’m going to f*** you up’ … My coach got in between it, since then I ain’t talked to the dude.”
Colby “Chaos“ Covington
Covington (16-3 MMA, 11-3 UFC) is coming off a decision loss against the current UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. Currently ranked #1 at welterweight, ‘Chaos’ had an amazing run in the division, going on a 7-fight winning streak before suffering a TKO loss to Usman in their first fight. Arguably one of the best wrestlers in the promotion, Covington is ranked #10 for landed takedowns in UFC’s record book with 61 takedowns total. He shares the spot with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Johny Hendricks.
Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal
Currently on a 2-fight losing streak, with both of those losses to the champion Kamaru Usman, UFC veteran and #6 ranked welterweight Jorge Masvidal (35-15 MMA, 12-8 UFC) was knocked out brutally by a punch his last time out in the Octagon against Usman. Known for his unpredictable striking, Masvidal’s fame rose quickly after his stunning back-to-back knockout wins over Darren Till and Ben Askren. He is most famous for his flying knee knockout of Askren at UFC 239.
UFC 272
UFC 272 will take place on March 5th at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada. Other notable bouts on this card include Edson Barboza vs. Bryce Mitchell and Kevin Holland vs. Alex Oliveira.
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