Jorge Masvidal vs Colby Covington Set To Main Event UFC 272 In March
It's been heavily rumored for a while now, but as per UFC Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell (via Brett Okamoto), the Jorge Masvidal vs Colby Covington grudge match will finally go down on March 5th at UFC 272. It will be a five-round, non-title welterweight headliner - which is something the UFC doesn't do very often - but I think this fight is worth it at this point.
For those unfamiliar with Masvidal/Covington's past - these two were teammates (and even good friends) at American Top Team before Colby's heel persona took over in recent years. "It's only business" for some, but for others, it's real life - and Masvidal didn't take too kindly to Colby calling him out and having such harsh things to say about him in 2019....
Covington had some nasty things to say about other teammates at American Top Team, as well, which got him thrown out of that camp in 2020 - and the tension/drama only built from there.
Now, Masvidal says he wants to break Colby's face every couple months, and Colby calls him 'Street Judas' (instead of 'Street Jesus') in return, and then we rinse and repeat to a degree. They've been in a war of words for literally years now.
This mini-doc on YouTube actually breaks their whole history down really well if you're interested in the details....
Oh, and here's Jorge Masvidal speaking to Ariel Helwani about his beef with Colby….
….so as you could see, there's no love lost here.
I mean, in that interview, Jorge says he hates Colby Covington with such extreme passion that he wants the Ben Askren KO to look "merciful" compared to what he aims to do to Colby. Just a reminder, this is what the Ben Askren KO looked like….
So uh - woah. If he is successful in accomplishing what he aims, it's gonna be an ugly night for Covington.
On the flip side, however, Colby is coming off an EXTREMELY competitive fight with Kamaru Usman (the guy who just brutally knocked Jorge Masvidal's head off) at the Garden, he's been more active, and his overall mixed martial arts game probably has more tools that Masvidal's - so this may just be the win that sends him back on track to getting another title shot. He is an absolute SAVAGE in that cage no matter what you think of his character/politics….
That's the beauty of this sport tho - ya truly never know what's gonna happen. All we know is that this fight (and the press conferences leading up to it) should be awesome.