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Colby Covington may have been reading his Donald Trump Jr. book for the majority of UFC 245’s pre-fight press conference earlier tonight (Fri., Nov. 1, 2019) in New York City, but the welterweight contender still made time to throw shade at former amigo Jorge Masvidal.
The current teammates and friends-turned-enemies have been going back-and-forth in the media amidst their respective runs at the UFC’s welterweight title. Both men have said some pretty harsh things, but that seems to be the name of the game nowadays, especially when a shot at UFC gold is on the line.
Covington, who is scheduled to fight UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman this December at UFC 245, targeted Masvidal once again during tonight’s presser. Not only did “Chaos” throw more dirt on Masvidal’s upcoming “BMF” title fight with Nate Diaz this weekend at UFC 244 in NYC, but he detailed his demands for a future bout with “Gamebred.”
“I want to be the one to end the hype of the broken, mediocre fighter championship this weekend,” Covington said. “We all know it’s a journeyman championship. They’re both 50-50 in the last couple of years. They win one fight, lose one fight. So I would absolutely love to get my hands on Masvidal.”
“But let me tell you one thing,” Covington continued. “Win, lose, or draw tomorrow night for Masvidal, I will get locked in the cage and not go to jail for beating his ass because he’s said some things in the media and now it needs to be settled. Because if I beat him up on the streets he’s not going to have anybody to pay his medical bills. We need uncle Dana to pay his medical bills after I’m done with him.”
Masvidal, who is coming off back-to-back knockout wins over Darren Till and Ben Askren, has to be one win away from a UFC welterweight title shot. Diaz obviously hasn’t been running over 170-pound fighters for years, but he’s one of the toughest guys to fight in the sport today. Adding a victory over Diaz, especially if it’s a spectacular finish, should be enough for “Gamebred” to get a shot at the winner of Usman vs. Covington.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Not only does Masvidal have to get past Diaz this weekend at UFC 244, but Covington has to show up and defeat Usman next month at UFC 245 to set the wheels in motion for a massive grudge match between the two ex-friends.