"It hurts, man" - Colby Covington opens up on his relationship with Jorge Masvidal

UFC 272: Covington vs Masvidal poster [image courtesy of @ufc on Twitter]

Colby Covington has opened up on his relationship with his former friend, training partner and roommate Jorge Masvidal. The duo are set to lock horns in the main event of UFC 272 this weekend.

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Speaking to ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto, Covington put forth his side of the story about their close friendship and eventual fallout. Masvidal has consistently maintained that 'Chaos' didn’t pay one of their mutual coaches, Paulino Hernandez, what he was owed after a fight. This was apparently the breaking point in their friendship.

Covington has refuted Masvidal’s allegations. He noted that his relationship with 'Gamebred' truly went downhill after he beat Rafael dos Anjos to win the interim belt in June 2018 and that envy likely played a major role. In regards to their fallout, the former interim welterweight champ said:

“Yeah, it hurt, Brett. I gave a lot to him, man. I put my career on the back-burner at first. I was just his training partner. It wasn’t about my career. I didn’t even think about fights.”

Covington recalled that he didn’t care about himself and instead focused primarily on helping Masvidal prepare for his fights in Strikeforce and later in the UFC. ‘Chaos’ added that he simply wanted to be a good training partner and would show up whenever ‘Gamebred’ needed someone with good wrestling.

Covington continued:

“I would show up every single day for him. So, as soon as like, I felt like he backstabbed me then. It was a full turn after I won the interim title versus RDA. But after I felt that, and I started to feel it starting to happen, it just, it s**ked, man. It just, it hurts, man. We were so close. And to come to this, you can’t really put into words how it feels, Brett.”

Watch Colby Covington’s full interview with ESPN MMA below:

Jorge Masvidal on his first impression of Colby Covington

Colby Covington is scheduled to face Jorge Masvidal in a five-round welterweight bout that’ll headline UFC 272 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, this Saturday. Their grudge match is expected to be one of the biggest fights of 2022.

In an interview with ESPN MMA, Masvidal addressed their feud and shed light on his first impression of Covington. 'Chaos' joined the ATT gym in 2011, when Masvidal was already an ATT mainstay. Harking back to their early interactions, the BMF titleholder said:

"Every time there's a recruitment class, I would take the guys out to eat or things like that. So, I got to meet Colby and I was like man, the guy could wrestle, you know. [He] couldn't do a damn thing but wrestle at the time."

Watch Jorge Masvidal's full interview with ESPN MMA below:

Both Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington have lost to reigning welterweight champ Kamaru Usman twice already. Both fighters will be eager to come out on top this weekend if they are to find themselves back in the title picture at 170 lbs.