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“Those guys are the shadiest in the business and they’ve tried to turn him against me.”
Colby Covington has never had a problem with longtime teammate and friend Jorge Masvidal, but ‘Chaos’ is very wary of ‘Gamebred’s’ management team, First Round Management.
Covington, who trains with Masvidal at American Top Team (ATT) in Coconut Creek, Florida, could soon cross paths with his teammate in the Octagon and, should that happen, the former UFC interim welterweight titleholder would have no problem training alongside Masvidal in preparation for the bout.
With that said, Covington doesn’t believe Masvidal’s managers, Malki and Abraham Kawa, would ever allow that happen and accused the Kawa brothers of trying to turn Masvidal against him.
“Honestly, I could definitely train with him the whole training camp and help him and just to get ready for me,” Covington told MMA Fighting ahead of his pivotal welterweight bout with Robbie Lawler at UFC on ESPN 5. “I’ll show him my wrestling, he knows all my stuff and I know all his stuff. I wouldn’t have a problem with it but I think him and his management, the Kawa’s, the scum Kawa brothers [Malki and Abraham] would have a problem with it. Those guys are the shadiest in the business and they’ve tried to turn him against me.
“I wouldn’t have a problem with it but I think he would have a problem with it. He needs to make fights personal to go out there and if he needs to make this personal just for one fight and we do business then we become friends the next day, I understand that because this is the fight business.”
Although Covington is open to a scrap with Masvidal, the 31-year-old would much prefer to skip that fight in favor of a title bout with Kamaru Usman.
“I’ll go fight Usman in the booth if I have to,” Covington said. “I get sick of seeing his stupid ass mug on TV, that fake smile and that fake lisp and that one lazy eye that he’s got.
“So after I beat Robbie Lawler on Aug. 3, I’ll be excited to fight at [Madison Square Garden] in November.”
UFC on ESPN 5, which features Covington vs. Lawler as the main event, takes place later this evening, Aug. 3 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.