Colby ‘Chaos’ Covington claimed a dominant unanimous decision victory in his grudge match against former friend and teammate Jorge ‘Gamebred’ Masvidal in the welterweight main event of UFC 272 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday morning.
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Covington took the victory 49-46 50-44 50-45 on the judges’ score cards, with his ability to land takedowns and dominate on the ground proving the key difference, as he never allowed Masvidal to get going with his dangerous striking game.
The first two rounds were close, but probably edged by Covington, who then took full control of round three with a fine takedown followed by a lengthy ground and pound. Covington’s pace, output and superior skills in grappling and wrestling continued in round four, though Masvidal rocked ‘Chaos’ with a couple of crisp strikes, but then failed to follow up and build momentum.
Once Covington landed another takedown in round five, the fight was all but over, with Masvidal unable to extricate himself and turn the tide.
“I just took care of Miami street trash, now it’s time to take care of Louisiana swamp trash, where you at Dustin Poirier?” said Covington in his post-fight interview, calling out the former lightweight title contender.
“I was off beat with the wrestling, I needed to wrestle harder,” a disappointed Masvidal explained.
The co-main event brought a unanimous decision win for Brazilian Rafael dos Anjos over compatriot Renato Moicano in a catchweight (160 pounds) match, with the latter having taken the fight on just five days’ notice to replace Rafael Fiziev (who tested positive for Covid-19 last week).
RDA enjoyed major dominance in terms of ground control and was impressive with his striking both on and off the feet, while Moicano won over the crowd for his incredible toughness, even landing some major blows in the final minute of round five – but not nearly enough to turn the tide on the score cards.
“Thanks you to Moicano. A lot of people ran away, but Moicano took the fight,” said dos Anjos after the match.
The main card opened with successive TKO wins for Sergey Spivak over Greg Hardy in the heavyweight division, and Kevin Holland over Alex Oliveira in the welterweight division, before Bryce Mitchell maintained his unbeaten status and claimed the biggest win of his career to date, dominating Brazilian Edson Barboza for a unanimous decision victory in the featherweight division.
The next UFC event is a Fight Night at the APEX Facility in Las Vegas on the morning of Sunday 13 March, headlined by a light heavyweight bout between Thiago Santos and Magomed Ankalaev.
UFC 272 – Main card results
- Main event: Welterweight: Colby Covington def. Jorge Masvidal via unanimous decision (49-46 50-44 50-45), R5, 5:00
- Co-main: Catchweight (160 pounds): Rafael dos Anjos def. Renato Moicano via unanimous decision (49-45 49-44 50-44), R5, 5:00
- Featherweight: Bryce Mitchell def. Edson Barboza via unanimous decision (30-25 30-26 30-27), R3, 5:00
- Welterweight: Kevin Holland def. Alex Oliveira via TKO (punches), R2, 0:38
- Heavyweight: Sergey Spivak def. Greg Hardy via TKO (punches), R1, 2:16