Audio from Colby Covington’s conversation with police officers, following Jorge Masvidal’s alleged assault outside Papi Steakhouse back in March, has been released.
We’re still waiting for the official trial in the alleged assault case between Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington to get underway. Attorneys representing both men were on hand back in November to ask for a joint continuance, delaying planned court proceedings on until February.
The case stems from an apparent March 21st altercation outside of the Papi Steak restaurant in Miami, where Covington claims he was blindsided by Masvidal—resulting in a broken tooth along with several other injuries and property damage. Former friends and training partners, Masvidal was arrested shortly afterward, and has pleaded not guilty to charges including felony aggravated battery.
Reports state that a masked man matching Masvidal’s general description approached Covington as he exited the restaurant and said “You shouldn’t have been talking about my kids,” before striking Covington in the face. The two former roommates had been engaged in a months long feud surrounding what Masvidal claims were unpaid debts ‘Chaos’ owed coaches at the time of the incident.
Audio of Covington’s 911 call on the night was released back in July. Now, however, YouTube’s Real World Police channel has released audio from Covington’s actual conversation with officers after they arrived on site.
“As soon as we’re about to walk across the street, I get sideswiped from the side,” Covington recalled after explaining that he had stopped outside the restaurant to meet with fans and sign autographs (transcript via MMA Fighting). “Like, I get punched in the mouth real quick and kind of get dizzed up and I look up and I see who it is. I can see in his eyes, it’s Jorge Masvidal. I can see his hair coming out of his hoodie, but he has a face mask on. A surgical face mask. But he’s saying, ‘You shouldn’t have f-cking talked about my kids, you shouldn’t have f-cking talked about my kids.’ So I was easily able to identify, like, that’s his voice, that’s his eyes, that’s his hair. I know exactly who that is and he took two quick punches to me.”
“Yes, I do have a history of knowing this person,” Covington continued, responding to officer inquiry, “because I lived with him for two years and we were training partners for eight years. We were very close friends, we literally trained together every single day, we were best friends. Obviously, I just fought this individual two weeks ago in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the UFC on their pay-per-view and I beat him easily, so I know exactly what he looks like, his eyes, his hair.”
The 34-year-old former American Top Team standout went on to describe his injuries, noting that Masvidal had “chipped my front tooth and knocked it out” and that “he definitely rocked me. I saw stars a little bit…”
Covington also explained to police why he felt Masvidal attacked him, specifically in response to the “you shouldn’t have f-cking talked about my kids” line.
“So the reference to the kids is in our last fight, the build-up at the press conference, I said, ‘Hey, you’re a deadbeat dad. You don’t talk to your kids,’” Covington said. “I have a relationship with his kids as well because we were that close as friends, so I still talk to his ex-wife and his baby mama. I’m still close with the family and I still like the kids.
“I was being honest, I said the honest truth. I know it’s fight promotion and anything kind of goes when you’re trying to sell a fight, but I said the truth. I just said, ‘Hey, why don’t you talk to your kids? Why are you a deadbeat father?’”
A former NCAA D-1 All-American wrestler, Covington hasn’t competed since defeating Masivdal in the Octagon back on March 5th of this past year. Covington won that fight by unanimous decision, but clearly a chance to face one another inside the Octagon wasn’t nearly enough to squash the beef between them.
That fight marked the third straight loss for Masvidal, following on the heels of back-to-back title fight losses against then-champion Kamaru Usman. Despite the legal case against him and his recent string of defeats, there’s been some talk of another title fight for the 38-year-old. This time against current champ Leon Edwards, who has his own inglorious history with Masvidal, after the two got into a scuffle at a 2019 UFC Fight Night event in London.