Colby Covington has looked back on the time he knew he’d be fighting Jorge Masvidal.
This Saturday night (March 5), Covington will go one-on-one with Masvidal. The two are former friends and training partners. Things went south and both men have their stories on why the relationship soured.
Covington claims it stems from jealousy on Masvidal’s end, while “Gamebred” insists it’s due to “Chaos” allegedly not paying a beloved coach what he was owed.
Colby Covington Reflects
During a sitdown interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Colby Covington said that following his Oct. 2017 victory over Demian Maia he knew a fight with Masvidal would happen someday.
“When I came home from the Demian Maia fight I saw that he was bitter, he was jealous. The way he treated me — he wasn’t being like a friend. Like, ‘Oh I’m so happy for you. Congratulations Colby, you just took a big step in your career.’
“He was a little standoffish, like, ‘Yo, good job bro,’ but wasn’t really happy for my success. It’s like the old saying goes, Brett. Everybody wants to see you doing well, but as soon as they’re doing better than you then it’s a problem. So, it was a problem when I started doing better than him. I beat a guy in Demian Maia, who he had just lost to and he realized we were right in line to fight each other.
“He even told me after I got back, he’s like, ‘Hey man, if we gotta fight I’ll just let you know I’d fight my mother for money.’ It’s just so ironic, he doesn’t talk to his mother. So, it’s just funny that he says it like that.”
Covington admitted that he was initially upset over the end of his friendship with Masvidal.
“Yeah, it hurt. I gave a lot to him, man. I put my career on the backburner at first. I was just his training partner. It wasn’t about my career. I didn’t even think about fights. All I thought about was preparing Jorge for his next fight and his Strikeforce fight and getting him ready for these high-level fights in the UFC. I didn’t care about myself.”
Covington vs. Masvidal will headline UFC 272. The welterweight grudge match is being held inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
