"We had to tell both of them to leave" - ATT owner Dan Lambert on Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal's "toxic" feud
Dan Lambert revealed that the beef between Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington got out of hand.
The bad blood between Masvidal and Covington is the biggest narrative heading into their UFC 272 clash, which could be one of the biggest pay-per-views of the year. The two stars were friends and training partners but eventually had a falling out. Covington has since left ATT and now trains with MMA Masters.
'Chaos' and 'Gamebred' have also run into the same roadblock in Kamaru Usman, both losing twice to the reigning welterweight champion. A win at UFC 272 would help them get back on the road to title contention at 170 lbs.
During a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Dan Lambert outlined the stakes of the blockbuster clash between Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington:
"One guy's on our team and one isn't. So there' no shying away from it. This is a huge fight, you know. Personal grudges aside, it's a huge fight. You've got two of the best fighters in the world in one of the best divisions in the world going at it. They're high-level guys... Big implications in the rankings from this and big implications in MMA overall," said Lambert.
Lambert then touched on the toxic nature of the feud:
"Yeah, it got toxic. It got to the point where it was affecting the gym. We've had lots of fighters in the gym in the last 25 years. We've had people who love each other and people who don't like each other...Their situation got to the point where we couldn't keep it under control and we had to ask both of them to leave."
Watch Dan Lambert's interview with MMA Junkie:
Laura Sanko believes Jorge Masvidal is being overlooked in his upcoming fight against Colby Covington
The last time Jorge Masvidal stepped into the octagon, he took on Kamaru Usman at UFC 261. 'Gamebred' lost by knockout, dropping a second consecutive fight against the reigning welterweight champion.
Regardless, Laura Sanko believes that the MMA community is unfairly looking past Masvidal because of his last performance. During a recent conversation with MiddleEasy, Sanko praised the 37-year-old for his fight IQ and veteran smarts, saying:
"His [Jorge Masvidal's] last performance against Kamaru Usman, seeing Jorge get knocked out like that, that's what people remember. And everybody has this recency bias. We all do it to some degree but I think people forget, I don't know, Jorge has one of the best fight IQs that is not talked about, in my opinion."
Check out Laura Sanko's interview:
A victory at UFC 272 would be a shot in the arm for Masvidal. However, he might still need to go on a winning streak before getting a third crack at Kamaru Usman.