Picture Credit: Twitter/UFC
The much-awaited fight between two former friends, Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal turned out to be a one-sided affair with Covington coming out on top of Masvidal. As much as people wanted Colby to end up on the other side, he produced the complete opposite of that. The foul-mouthed fighter picked one of the biggest wins of his career as he beat Masvidal via unanimous decision (49-46, 50-44, 50-45) in the main event of UFC 272 on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Masvidal tried hard but Covington was as good as any opponent and used his dominant wrestling, pressure, and crafty striking to wear out his former friend. On the other hand, Masvidal had his moments as he looked ahead of his opponent in the second round and also dropped Covington in the fourth round. Masvidal has the crowd behind him as well but that was not enough. Covington was ahead of him for the majority of the time.
Although Covington won the bout, he was not ready to count this one as his best performance. "It wasn't my best performance," Covington said in the post-fight news conference. "Just a lot of emotions going into it. That was a real friend of mine at one point in my career. ... I let my emotions get the best of me. But it was still dominant. I showed the world how good I was," he added.
The Covington-Masvidal saga
The build-up around this fight was so much because the two fighters share a long history. Covington and Masvidal are former best friends, roommates, and teammates. Masvidal also acted as a mentor to Covington when the latter arrived at American Top Team in 2011 after an illustrious career wrestling at Oregon State. While Covington helped Masvidal with his wrestling skills, Masvidal helped teach Covington how to strike.
But things got worse as Covington suspected that Masvidal was not taking his success in the right way, got jealous, and stabbed him in the back. On the other hand, Masvidal alleged Covington pf being phony and stiffing his coach, Paulino Hernandez, on pay. And now the two cannot stand each other.
