Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington’s differences have nothing to do with Covington’s schtick and everything to do with Masvidal’s jealousy, according to Colby.
Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington do not get along.
Once teammates and close friends, the two are now bitter rivals with a big money fight in the near future just hanging there for the UFC to book. But you know how it is with a lot of these so called feuds: it’s all heat til after the fight and then a mic picks up one party saying “It’s all business, I just said all that to pump the fight.”
Wolf tickets!
With so many reasons to question the authenticity of fighter smacktalk, it should be no surprise that there’s been some questions regarding the legitimacy of Masvidal and Covington’s beef. But Colby made it clear in an interview with MMA News’ James Lynch that it’s not just real, it’s very personal.
“We were best friends, inseparable, lived together for a couple years, just friends for almost a decade,” Covington said. “You think we would really be saying these things about each other in the media? Like, if I see him in the streets, he’s for sure getting dropped on his head and he’s going to the hospital. He’s not going to be able to afford his hospital bills. I want the UFC to pay for them when I beat him in the Octagon. So I don’t want to have to do it in the streets. “
“But this is a personal fight, James. This is as real as it gets, like the UFC’s saying goes. And anybody that thinks we’re still friends, man, I don’t know what they’re thinking, man. They must be smoking some good weed or something.”
Colby delved into the split, which he claims started the moment he surpassed Masvidal in the welterweight division.
“It was right when I came back from Brazil and I’d fought Demian Maia,” Covington said. “And he had just fought Maia I don’t know like eight months, six months ago. And he’d lost to Demian Maia and it was his big fight, Maia was on an eight fight win streak or whatever crushing everybody and it was a title eliminator fight. And he got beat up in that fight by Demian Maia, and when I fought Maia two fights later, six months later, I go out there and just leave him in a pool of his own blood in his own city. Tell the Brazilians they were filthy animals because they were being filthy animals that night and the place is a dump.”
“I remember coming back from that trip from Brazil and he was just so salty, just acting like a diva—acting like he’s famous, having a big ego. I’ve never had an ego, man. I came from blue-collar Oregon from a blue-collar family, and I’m thankful for every little thing. I was thankful when I was riding the bike to the gym every day because I was broke and had no money to go train. But I was still thankful. And it was never a jealousy or envy thing about anybody. I didn’t care.”
“But as soon as I passed him up, started getting more success than him, he got jealous. He started saying comments in the media for no reason, like, ‘Oh, that crotch sniffer.’ Like, bro, what are you talking about? He’s like, ‘Oh, I’d fight my mother.’ It’s not about that. Like, dude, we could go about this so much better than this, man. He could’ve been a better person. But it just showed his true colors, James. It showed the little thug that he is, the little criminal.”
“He’s broken the law. He’s a felon! And I want to do something for law enforcement, all the first responders around the world and crush this dude, beat him up so bad he’s not recognizable the next day.”
At least all this talk may finally go somewhere. Masvidal has spent the last year fighting Kamaru Usman for the title twice, and now Covington isn’t just his best route back to welterweight contendership, he’s also the money fight. There could even be a whole season of The Ultimate Fighter built around their BFF meltdown, if the UFC is willing to compensate both guys properly. We’re not too sure about that. Yes we wanna see Masvidal and Covington fight. But four months worth of The Ultimate Fighter build up?
Tell us if that sounds wonderful or horrible.