Covington, Masvidal set for grudge match at UFC 272
Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal will finally meet in the Octagon when their welterweight match headlines UFC 272 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on the morning of Sunday 6 March 2022.
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Covington (16-3), the UFC’s self-described ‘super villain’, comes into the clash on the back of a unanimous decision loss to Nigeria’s Kamaru Usman at UFC 268 in November 2021. It was Covington’s second loss to Usman in a title fight, having also succumbed via TKO in December 2019.
‘Chaos’ is looking to claim a victory in this match and tee up a trilogy showdown with the ‘Nigerian Nightmare’: “It puts me right back in line to get another fight with Usman,” Covington explained. “The people saw in Madison Square Garden and New York City what happened in that fight. I easily won three rounds.
“I think I won four rounds. The only round he clearly won was the second. I won the first, the third, the fourth and the fifth, so the people saw that. They want that fight again.
“There’s no one that’s on his level that can compete with him like I can, so this fight needs to happen again. There needs to be a trilogy because he hasn’t proved that he’s the better fighter.
“He hasn’t proved that he’s the best welterweight in the world, and there’s still unfinished business there. So I think after I finish Jorge Masvidal on March 5, it puts me right back in line to get my title shot.”
Masvidal (35-15) is a former teammate and best friend of Covington. He has also fought Usman for the welterweight title (in his last two matches in July 2020 and April 2021) but was beaten by UD and KO.
‘Gamebred’ has stirred the pot and continued the war of words between himself and Covington, claiming that former US President Donald Trump will be supporting him rather than ‘Chaos’ at UFC 272. Covington is a notorious Trump sycophant who visited the former President at the White House in 2018.
“There’s only one ‘Gamebred’… for a fact, man,” Masvidal said. “Ask this dude. He knows what a fighter looks like. He was around boxing forever. He knows what a nuthugger, a**-kissing machine like Colby looks like.
“Colby tried to kiss his hand and Trump was weirded out. He tried to pull that s*** back. That’s on video, man…. It’s me all day. Did Trump FaceTime with Colby’s a** and his kids? No. Trump did that with me.”
The rest of the main card features a rescheduled lightweight clash between Rafael dos Anjos and Rafael Fiziev (which should have headlined a recent Fight Night); Edson Barboza taking on Bryce Mitchell in the featherweight division; welterweights Kevin Holland and Alex Oliveira will look to establish their credentials for a potential title shot; and Sergey Spivak will battle Greg Hardy in a heavyweight match.
UFC 272 – Main card
Main event: Welterweight: Colby Covington v Jorge Masvidal
Lightweight: Rafael dos Anjos v Rafael Fiziev
Featherweight: Edson Barboza v Bryce Mitchell
Welterweight: Kevin Holland v Alex Oliveira
Heavyweight: Sergey Spivak v Greg Hardy
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