Colby Covington claims Jorge Masvidal turned down a seven-figure payday to coach opposite him on The Ultimate Fighter.
The UFC wanted Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal to coach opposite each other on a new series of The Ultimate Fighter, but ‘Gamebred’ turned down the opportunity, according to ‘Chaos’.
Covington claims Masvidal, his ex-teammate and flatmate, turned down a ‘seven-figure payday’ because he’s scared to fight.
“So, the UFC offered him a seven-figure payday, an Ultimate Fighter gig, this heated rivalry,” Covington explained to Submission Radio. “The only reason I wanted to fight Jorge ‘Street Judas’ Masvidal, we got a vendetta and it needs to be settled, and it’s an easy payday for me, and I was willing to go back. But it’s because of the way he was running his mouth. He said I was fragile, he said he would knock me out, he said he would baptize me to people close to me, you know, saying ‘let’s fight in the parking lot’ in our old gym, let’s go fight in the parking lot at publics, trying to act tough at events in front of Dana. Like, ‘hey, I’ll beat Colby’s ass,’ this and that. That’s the only reason I was willing to go backwards, cause there’s a legitimate personal beef there. This is deeper than just a fight, this is a broken friendship, a complete rivalry now. But what can I do about it? He doesn’t want to fight. He’s scared to fight. He knows what would happen if we fight.”
Covington went on to explain that the UFC initially offered him the fight after he beat Tyron Woodley via fifth-round TKO in September, but the UFC couldn’t get ahold of Masvidal because he was ‘hiding’.
“After I fought Woodley, Dana White, Hunter Campbell called me, they wanted to get the fight done in December/January,” Covington said. “I was on board, I agreed, I put the pen to paper. But Jorge Masvidal was nowhere to be found. He was hiding. Him and Malki were hiding. They want nothing to do this me. They know what happens when they fight me, it doesn’t end well for them.”
“So, they’ve been ducking me, and they [the UFC] wanted that fight then. And then after he turned down January, they were like, ok, well let’s do the Ultimate Fighter. You know, we can start taping in May, you guys fight as the pay-per-view main event at the end of it in June. And it would have been perfect because I am Jorge Masvidal’s father and I know Father’s Day is in June, so it would have been a two-for-one special. I would have beat his ass, spanked my little son and I would have got a happy Father’s Day.”
The former interim welterweight champion says he has bigger fish to fry in Kamaru Usman and is adamant that he is deserving of the next title shot over Masvidal.
“So, I gotta move on. I got bigger business to take care of. I don’t need to go back in the rankings anyway I’m the number one welterweight in the world, I’m the number one-ranked, and frankly, I deserve my title shot. Marty Fakenewsman, he got lucky as fuck the first time we fought. I was beating him three to one. The next time we fight, I’m not gotta get poisoned before the fight,” Covington continued. “In the fight, I’m not gonna have Marc Goddard to save him and stop momentum in the fight when I kick him in the liver and they call it a nut shot. That changed the whole momentum of the fight, man. And he had multiple breaks in the fight to catch his wind and regroup and stuff. And it was an early stoppage. I was winning the fight three to one. I want my rematch with Marty. Jorge ‘street Judas’ Masvidal forfeited out of the welterweight tournament, it’s only me and Marty Fakenewsman left at the top of the mountain.”
Covington lost to Usman via fifth-round TKO at UFC 245 but bounced back in his next fight with a late stoppage victory over Woodley. The 32-year-old is the No. 1 welterweight contender in the world, per the UFC rankings.