UFC News: Colby Covington says he wants Jorge Masvidal next, details the origin of their rivalry
According to Jorge Masvidal, his beef with teammate Colby Covington started over the latter reportedly not paying his coach after his fight against Rafael Dos Anjos. That, tied up with his trash-talking antics made him lose respect for the former Interim Champion and since then, the two have been beefing.
Covington, however, has a big challenge ahead on Saturday as he takes on Kamaru Usman for the Welterweight Championship in the final PPV bout of the year. He spoke to BT Sport, revealing that he wants Jorge Masvidal next (H/T Bjpenn.com):
“Everybody knows who’s next. It’s got to be journeyman Jorge Masvidal, aka Street Judas,”
“No, looking back at it now. I knew the whole time [we weren’t friends]. We hung out a lot, we lived together, but it was a one-way street. He was just using me for his training camps, to help him with wrestling. He didn’t have a good wrestler to help him prepare for his fights so he was just using me to help him. But really, I was just ragdolling him all the time and eventually, he got jealous of it, and that’s why we had to separate."
He said that after he beat "Rafael Dos Nachos [Anjos]" and won the Interim title, jealousy over money and fame got the better of Masvidal and since he turned his back on Covington, he's now public enemy #1.
He said that nothing about Masvidal's 2019 was impressive, despite many dubbing him as "The Fighter of the Year". He said that the weight cut and pressure got to Darren Till (who he believes should have knocked Masvidal out but was overzealous), while Ben Askren is a "nobody", according to him. He went on to call Nate Diaz a "jobber" with "double-digit losses", the latter of which is technically true.
There's no doubt that Covington vs Masvidal would be a huge money fight if Chaos can get through Kamaru Usman at UFC 245. However, it is a big "if" since Usman has been the most dominant Welterweight in his last few fights. It's an interesting bout stylistically as both are heavy on wrestling and are big pressure fighters.