Things are heating up between the friends turned enemies as Jorge Masvidal released a video highlighting comments made by his upcoming opponent Colby Covington ahead of UFC 272.
Former roommates and training partners at American Top Team Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington have had one of the most highly publicized fallouts that the sport has seen in recent years. Once upon a time, the two publicly discussed their friendship and support for each other. Today, the two can not hide their disdain for the other and the bout is expected to be one of the biggest non-title grudge matches of the past several years.
Late Tuesday evening, Masvidal teased on Twitter that he would expose “Judas Covington.” Thursday morning, he released a promotional video through the site Rumble in which he “exposed” inconsistencies in Covington’s comments over the past several years.
In the video, Masvidal highlights various statements made by Covington. Among them: Covington’s statements about the advice he received during his first UFC title bid against Kamaru Usman, his public persona contradicting previous statements about what is off limits in pre-fight promotion, and the comments by UFC stars Dustin Poirier and Joanna Jędrzejczyk about their dislike for him.
Per Masvidal, the source of the friction stems from Covington’s refusal to compensate members of the team for their work in preparing him for his interim title fight against Rafael dos Anjos in 2018. The continued discord between the two ultimately led to Covington’s dismissal from the team due to reported tension that required the two to be divided into different training sessions.
The fight between the two is the first non-title bout to headline a UFC pay-per-view that does not feature Conor McGregor or Nate Diaz since 2016. With roughly a month left before the bout, anticipation is expected to grow in the coming weeks.
Masvidal and Covington enter the fight as the two most recent title challengers in the UFC’s middleweight division. Masvidal, after a seminal 2019 run that saw him win the special “BMF” title, is coming off back-to-back losses to Kamaru Usman with their last contest taking place in April of 2021. Covington was next to challenge Usman, pushing the champion all five rounds before ultimately losing by decision last November.
