Colby Covington wears down Jorge Masvidal at UFC 272
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, March 5, 2022, for UFC 272, going down at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, live on pay-per-view.
Headlining the event is a truly epic non-title bout between two of the best welterweights on the planet, best friends turned bitter rivals, Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal.
This is such an exciting contest for so many reasons.
Covington started training with Masvidal before he even started his fighting career, back when he was only a wrestler, and back when Masvidal was competing for Strikeforce.
A good striker like Masvidal, Covington made a great teammate for him, and vice versa.
Covington’s striking has gotten much better over the years, and so has Masvidal’s takedown defense.
That being said, the two parted ways toward the end of 2018 and have had distain for one another ever since.
Covington is no longer at American Top Team, taking to fellow Florida gym MMA Masters after being kicked out; the two haven’t trained together in a few years. Do either of them have anything new to their arsenal to show the other?
Well, we finally get to see them go at it tonight!
Continue reading to see how this epic welterweight main event went down:
Official Result: Colby Covington def. Jorge Masvidal via unanimous decision (49-46, 50-44, 50-45)
Covington comes out unafraid of Masvidal’s striking, as he immediately begins lunging in with punches. Masvidal lands a hard leg kick, which effected Covington, at least momentarily, and he shoots in on a takedown.
Though he’s unable to initially secure it, he is able to trip Masvidal and begins to have his absolute way with him.
The second round is much better for Masvidal, as he starts to really tag Covington up. It appeared the tides may be turning early, but Covington rebounds toward the end of the round, as he makes it dirty and starts throwing heavy leather.
This actually works for him quite well throughout the fight.
Covington’s pressure is beginning to be too much. When he can’t take Masvidal down, he elbows on the break more often than not, and when he does take Masvidal down he’s as dominant as it gets.
He handily secures a double leg takedown to start the third and he’s reigning down punches and elbows to a guarded Masvidal.
Covington’s pace is really something to behold. And another thing, Kamaru Usman, as dominant of a champion as he is, and as accomplished of an amateur wrestler as he is, couldn’t handle Masvidal like this. He did try for five rounds their first time around, and he couldn’t.
That pressure and pace of Covington carries into round four, and towards the middle of the round, he hurts Masvidal with a series of punches along the fence. Covington’s just teeing off on him, but Masvidal is able to recover.
Covington gets too careless in the middle of these exchanges and gets dropped with a vicious right hook. Masvidal tags him a couple more times while he’s hurt, but he doesn’t really capitalize on his opportunity.
On that note, Covington gets right back to it about 30 seconds later.
Covington’s leg doesn’t appear to be injured at this point, or at least he hasn’t let it effect him past the first five minutes. He takes Masvidal down easily once again and remains on top for the rest of the fifth round.
His top game is just unmatched, virtually no one has ever done this to Masvidal before, not like this.
It’s clear Colby Covington is the No. 2 welterweight in the world, or is he? How about the winner of Gilbert Burns vs Khamzat Chimaev facing him next? Or Dustin Poirier, as he just called for a fight with.
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