Jorge Masvidal vs Colby Covington set to headline UFC 272 in March
One of the most anticipated grudge matches in any division throughout the UFC has now been scheduled for a main event PPV. ESPN’s Brett Okamoto was first to announce per UFC Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell, that a welterweight fight between Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington has been set to headline UFC 272 in March, with the event set to take place in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Not only are Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington former teammates at American Top Team, but they’re also former roommates and the two most recent welterweight title challengers who came up short in their respective fights against champion Kamaru Usman. Both Masvidal and Covington have competed twice against Usman for the title and have come up 0-4 combined in their fights against the undisputed champion.
Most recently, Masvidal had been scheduled to take on another bitter rival, Leon Edwards, which was scheduled for UFC 269 but “Gamebred” had to withdraw from the event due to injury. Before his back-to-back losses to Usman, Masvidal rose to stardom during a three-fight winning streak where he defeated Darren Till, Ben Askren, and Nate Diaz. Back in 2019, Masvidal fought Diaz for the newly-created ‘BMF’ title, a title he would win after his fight with Diaz ended due to a doctor’s stoppage from a cut Diaz suffered on his face.
Before coming up short in two fights against Usman, Colby Covington enjoyed a seven-fight winning streak which included wins over the likes of Robbie Lawler, Demian Maia, and Rafael dos Anjos, which also led to him becoming interim welterweight champion back in 2018-19. In between his two losses to Usman, Covington picked up a victory over former welterweight champion Tyron Woodley.
With both Covington and Jorge Masvidal coming off losses to the champion yet remaining at the top of the division rankings, scheduling the grudge match made the most sense. Just days ago, Masvidal sent a message on social media to Covington, telling him not to be a “coward” and when news of the fight was announced, Covington sent his own message response to ESPN.
Comment from Colby Covington (@ColbyCovMMA) on the Jorge Masvidal (@masvidal) fight, via text:
“He better fucking show up.”
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) January 11, 2022
With the main event slot, Jorge Masvidal is the only other UFC fighter besides Conor McGregor in the last five years to headline a non-title fight PPV event. The other most recent fighter to share that feat is a former opponent of both McGregor and Masvidal, Nate Diaz.
Here is how the UFC 272 card currently stands:
- Jorge Masvidal vs Colby Covington (main event)
- Edson Barboza vs Bryce Mitchell
- Jessica Eye vs Manon Fiorot
- Maryna Moroz vs Mariya Agapova
- Dustin Jacoby vs Michal Oleksiejczuk
- Tim Elliott vs Tagir Ulanbekov
- Marina Rodriguez vs Xiaonan Yan
- Jalin Turner vs Jamie Mullarkey
- Kevin Hollan vs Alex Oliveira
