Tag: Colby Covington

UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal has his own theories behind why some of the brashest personalities in UFC history, including Chael Sonnen and Colby Covington, always engage in the art of trash talk.

Masvidal will face his former American Top Team teammate, Covington in a grudge match at UFC 272. After they were friends for years and helped each other grow in the sport, they have fallen out and will settle their differences in the octagon.

The Masvidal vs. Covington fight is one of only a few of its kind. There are rarely non-title pay-per-view main events in the UFC, except a Conor McGregor fight.

During a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Masvidal claimed that Covington and Sonnen’s less entertaining in-cage approach is the reasoning behind their overcompensating out of it.

Jorge Masvidal Opines On Colby Covington, Chael Sonnen

“Chael had to be so sh*t-talking because he didn’t have an exciting style for a long time; he was just wrestling guys to death,” Masvidal said. “So he had to do that extra talking and get himself over like that. That influenced guys like Colby — that’s all he does.

“[Covington] has to talk about people’s wives. Like, how f*cking low of a society have we gotten, that’s even acceptable? You’re talking about people’s wives for no reason? Talking about Amanda Nunes’ team? In doing that, he inspires the future generations. So some 12-year-old may be looking at him, thinking, ‘Oh, this is the way to go, to insult a whole nation to get yourself over,’ because you weren’t selling pay-per-views, because you can’t fight, so you have to insult a whole country now.” (h/t MMANews)

Masvidal has never been one to engage in trash talk, but he’s certainly not afraid to respond to it either. He’s gone back and forth with the likes of Kamaru Usman and Leon Edwards on social media and even McGregor.

The fight itself could be very competitive, but the pre-fight buildup may surpass the event altogether.

Do you agree with Jorge Masvidal?

UFC welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal has explained why the likes of Chael Sonnen and Colby Covington engage in personal trash talk.

Masvidal, a two-time 170-pound title challenger, will have the chance to silence Covington when he faces his former teammate at UFC 272 in March. In a rare non-title headliner, the pair of friends-turned-bitter foes will settle their score inside the Octagon at the third pay-per-view of 2022.

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Both men are coming off championship losses to reigning titleholder Kamaru Usman. “Gamebred” suffered a unanimous decision loss to “The Nigerian Nightmare” in 2020, and then was brutally knocked out in their rematch at UFC 261 last April.

“Chaos,” meanwhile, first tasted defeat to Usman in 2019 at UFC 245. After being finished in the final round of what was a tight and competitive affair, Covington earned a rematch with a victory over Tyron Woodley the next year.

But despite taking the champ to the scorecards at UFC 268 last November, the controversial contender was unable to dethrone the unbeaten welterweight king.

Masvidal: Covington Inspires Future Generations To Talk Trash

In both of his challenges for gold, Covington’s trash-talking ways were on full display and included attacks on Usman’s heritage and father. For fighters, fans, and pundits, his words and insults were nothing new.

Ever since his “heel turn” in Brazil following his 2017 victory over Demian Maia, which saw Covington brand the South American nation a “dump,” the former interim titleholder hasn’t shied away from firing shots at all corners of the sport and all areas of his opponents; be it style, credentials, or even wives, as he’s done with Masvidal in the past.

During a recent appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, Masvidal likened Covington’s decision to pursue a controversial, trash-talking persona to that of former two-division title challenger Chael Sonnen. “Gamebred” believes that, like Sonnen, Covington has had to make up for his wrestling-heavy fighting style by resorting to insults and trash talk in order to attract attention.

While he believes Sonnen, who recently described the UFC 272 main event as a potentially career-ending clash for Masvidal, influenced Covington’s mindset, the Miami native sees the cycle continuing with the #1-ranked welterweight contender setting an unhealthy example for future generations.

“It’s kind of like the Chael Sonnen thing,” Masvidal said. “Chael had to be so sh*t-talking because he didn’t have an exciting style for a long time; he was just wrestling guys to death. So he had to do that extra talking and get himself over like that. That influenced guys like Colby — that’s all he does.

“[Covington] has to talk about people’s wives. Like, how f*cking low of a society have we gotten, that’s even acceptable? You’re talking about people’s wives for no reason? Talking about Amanda Nunes’ team? In doing that, he inspires the future generations. So some 12-year-old may be looking at him, thinking, ‘Oh, this is the way to go, to insult a whole nation to get yourself over,’ because you weren’t selling pay-per-views, because you can’t fight, so you have to insult a whole country now.”

While he went on to insist he has no issue with jokes and general trash talk, which he certainly engaged in with Usman prior to UFC 261, Masvidal suggested that when it reaches the level of disrespect Covington often shows, it becomes unnecessary and something he “won’t stand for.”

“It just doesn’t make sense to me. We’re already going to fight as men. We’re going to give it all we have to each other. We don’t have to talk about things like children, women, religion, people’s countries,” added Masvidal. “To make jokes, I think it’s cool to get under somebody’s skin. But to go to that level of disrespect, it’s not — and what’s even worse is that it might inspire future generations to do it. And that I won’t stand for. We’ve got to crush it.” (h/t MMA Fighting)

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Facing Covington won’t be the first time Masvidal has come against a trash-talking wrestler. In 2019, a year that saw “Gamebred” rise from a mid-tier name to an MMA superstar, Masvidal faced former ONE and Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren.

The now-retired Askren’s attempts to agitate and wind up Masvidal went on right into the Octagon, just seconds before the fight began. But just moments after his final remarks, “Funky” was put to sleep with a memorable flying knee.

Masvidal will hope to “crush” former friend and teammate Covington in a similar fashion on March 5.

Do you agree with Jorge Masvidal? Is the trash talk that the likes of Colby Covington and Chael Sonnen engage in unnecessary?

Continue Reading Jorge Masvidal Explains Why Sonnen & Covington Need To Talk Trash at MMA News.

Chael Sonnen took to his YouTube channel earlier this week praising Jorge Masvidal for signing the bout agreement with his bitter rival and former friend, Colby Covington.

Sonnen said he admired Masvidal for living up to his BMF name by accepting a fight with someone he believes could spell the end of the road for ‘Gamebred’.

‘The Bad Guy’ also broke down the advantages and disadvantages that Masvidal is facing in the matchup, alluding specifically to how he and Covington never trained together at welterweight. However, shortly after he discussed the ways that Covington could cause so much damage to Masvidal that it could force him into retirement.

Around the 5:30 mark of the video below, Sonnen mentions that if Masvidal loses or puts up a poor performance on this high of a stage, it could be detrimental to his draw capabilities going forward.

“I really have got to show respect to Masvidal, because this is a career-ending fight,” Sonnen said. “It is that big of a deal. There will be that much attention and that much focus and that much hatred going into this battle. Jorge, who is the second biggest draw in combat (sports) right now, he’s coming off of two defeats.”

“If he goes out there and he gets taken down and he gets mauled for 25 minutes, it is going to take a lot of luster off of the shine that is the second biggest draw (in the UFC), the BMF, Jorge Masvidal. It’s a big deal and Jorge signed up anyway. God damn, I respect that!” 

(transcribed by Jeffery Walter of bjpenn.com)

Chael Sonnen Would Like To See 5 Round Fight For BMF Title

The grudge match was announced last week and it is expected to be the headliner for the March 5 PPV event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Sonnen made it very clear that he believes this fight has the drawing power to be its own main event and if that’s the case he would like to see Masvidal put his notorious BMF belt on the line.

Masvidal is coming off back-to-back losses against champion Kamaru Usman. Covington also fell to Usman in his last outing so both fighters will be coming into the bout looking to get back on track towards a title shot.

Do you agree with Chael Sonnen?