UFC 272 Preview
The UFC will be heading back the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday March 5th for UFC 272. The main event will be in the welterweight division between former friends but now heated enemies #1 Colby Covington and #6 Jorge Masvidal. The two fighters are former teammates, but they have become bitter rivals who will fight to settle a personal score on Saturday.
Covington (16-3 and 11-3 in the UFC) most recently challenged Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title in November but lost by unanimous decision to the champion. It was the second time Covington lost to Usman for the belt but has been the only fighter to push Usman to the limit in his UFC career.
The 34-year-old has made a name for himself by being the heel in the build up to fights which is clearly now an adopted character used to generate interest. Fortunately for Covington other than his losses to Usman, he has backed up the trash talk and ridiculous behavior by performing well in the Octagon.
Aside from all the personal implications on this fight Covington has stated to the media, that he does have a true purpose for this fight. “I forgoed the pay-per-view,” Covington told reporters at Wednesday’s media day. “I don’t care about the pay-per-view for this fight. This is a personal fight. I want to come and put on a show for the UFC and show that I’m deserving of being a lifetime UFC fighter.”
Of course, Covington was not shy about taking personal shots at Masvidal afterwards. “This is just a personal rivalry, this isn’t about the money,” Covington explained. “I didn’t come here to fight for money. I took a pay cut, I didn’t care about the money for this fight. This is about settling a blood rivalry.
“This has been a long time coming. This guy is holding it off as long as he could until he had no chance or no other opportunities. This is the biggest opportunity he could get to pay his alimony and to pay his child support, so of course, he had to come take his losing paycheck.”
Covington has key victories in his career over Tyron Woodley, Robbie Lawler, Rafael Dos Anjos, Demian Maia and Dong Hyun Kim. A win keeps him in the top contender spot, but a loss would make it difficult for him to make a case for a third fight with Usman anytime soon. If he loses to Masvidal and wants a third shot at the title, his best bet would be if someone else other than Usman is champion.
Masvidal (35-15 and 12-8 in the UFC) like Covington is 0-2 against Usman in title fights. His last fight was a devastating second round KO last April to the champion. The 37-year-old has been fighting in the UFC since 2013 and has a long-storied career behind him. He quickly became a fan favorite in 2019 with highlight reel victories over Darren Till, Ben Askren and Nate Diaz. He holds other key victories over Donald Cerrone, Jake Ellenberger, James Krause, Michael Chiesa and Tim Means.
Masvidal said that the bad blood will remain with Covington even after the fight is over on Saturday and there will be no handshake. “He knows me through and through. He would never dare do that. He wouldn’t get close to me in any circumference or anything like that,” Masvidal told reporters.
“He wouldn’t put himself at a chance where I could end his ass again. Especially ‘cause he’s talked about my kids. My kids don’t do a pay-per-view sale. People ain’t going, like ‘Oh, he’s talking about his kids, I’m really gonna tune in now.’
“He talked about Usman’s dad, I don’t know how many times, Usman’s mom. And then you’re gonna say ’It’s just business, I’m selling pay-per-views, I love you bro.’ When he had said for months, ‘I’ll never shake this guy’s hand.”
With a win Masvidal could put himself back into title contention but he like Covington would have a better chance at a third title shot if Usman was no longer champion, especially after such a bad KO loss in their last fight. Masvidal has stated publicly that when he and Covington trained together Covington held a wrestling advantage over him and Masvidal owned an advantage in the striking. But Masvidal feels he has improved his all-around game and will be prepared for the way Covington fights.
Covington has proven that the longer a fight goes the better off he is, with his great cardio and constant forward pressure. Masvidal has shown that he is better earlier in fights, but when going the distance, he has also proven that he has the cardio to still fight a tough fight in the later rounds.
The rest of the main card:
Catchweight (160 lb) - #6 LW Rafael dos Anjos vs. Renato Moicano
Featherweight - #10 Edson Barboza vs. #11 Bryce Mitchell
Welterweight - #14 MW Kevin Holland vs. Alex Oliveira
Heavyweight - Sergey Spivak vs. Greg Hardy
ESPN/ESPN+ Prelims:
Lightweight - Jalin Turner vs Jamie Mullarkey
Women's Strawweight - #3 Marina Rodriguez vs. #4 Yan Xiaonan
Light Heavyweight - Nicolae Negumereanu vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu
Women's Flyweight - Maryna Moroz vs. Mariya Agapova
ESPN+ Early Prelims:
Featherweight - Brian Kelleher vs. Umar Nurmagomedov
Flyweight - #13 Tim Elliott vs. #15 Tagir Ulanbekov
Lightweight - Devonte Smith vs. Ľudovít Klein
Light Heavyweight- Michał Oleksiejczuk vs. Dustin Jacoby
