LAS VEGAS – No matter what happens at UFC 272, Jorge Masvidal won’t settle things with Colby Covington.
The BMF champion and long-time UFC contender is adamant that he’ll never squash his beef with Covington (16-3 MMA, 11-3 UFC) no matter what goes down in their main event welterweight contest at Saturday’s UFC pay-per-view event in Las Vegas.
Masvidal (35-15 MMA, 12-8 UFC) meets his former friend and teammate in a much-anticipated bout that’s been building up for years. The two have built one of the most heated rivalries today following their fallout that ended with Covington leaving American Top Team due to an alleged unfulfilled payment to Masvidal’s coach.
In Covington’s last fight, which was also a contentious rivalry with champion Kamaru Usman, Covington showed respect following the bout, telling Usman the trash talk was just to sell the fight.
Well, Masvidal is not even remotely open to a ceasefire of any kind and warns Covington to keep his distance following their fight on Saturday.
“He would never dare (to shake my hand),” Masvidal told reporters at Wednesday’s UFC 272 media day. “He wouldn’t get close to me in any circumference or anything like that. He wouldn’t put himself at a chance where I can end his ass again, especially because he’s talked about my kids.
“My kids don’t do a pay-per-view sell. People don’t go, ‘Oh he’s talking about his kids. I’m going to tune in now.’ He talked about Usman’s dad, calling him all type of things, and Usman’s mom – and then you’re going to say, ‘It’s business. I’m just selling pay-per-view. I love you, bro.’ He had said for months that he wouldn’t shake this man’s hand. That shows how much of a coward he is and what a snake he is. He’ll say whatever and whenever and then when the light is on him, when it’s time to be man, he does what he does.”
Covington hasn’t held back when trash talking Masvidal both in the lead up to this fight and prior to their booking. “Chaos” has talked about Masvidal’s kids and former partner.
“I can’t respect him in any way, shape, or form,” Masvidal said. “Kind of like Ben Askren. I don’t care for Ben Askren. If Ben Askren were at a place and he said something to me, we can either fight or not. If he’s cool, I’m cool. But with Colby, it will always for as long as we live, we’ll always have a problem just because he mentioned my religion and kids.”
Masvidal is eager to get in the cage with Covington because he wants to stop him as “violently” as possible. Yet, bad blood aside, Masvidal won’t consider Covington a good name for his record if victorious at UFC 272.
“With my victories, it will rank, it will put me as a No. 1 contender and I’ll be competing for the title shortly after, so that’s definitely a plus,” Masvidal said. “But as far as having beaten great fighters, I won’t even talk to my grandkids about this guy.
“It would just be some personal stuff, I beat some dude I really didn’t like and that’s it. But as far as accomplishments, he won’t rank in there. I don’t like his style and how he fights. I’m going to make it look really easy come Saturday night.”
