Colby Covington knew right away who ambushed him.
On March 21, Covington, a man he claimed to be a UFC competitor, was attacked in front of a Miami Beach restaurant. Soon after the incident, Masvidal was arrested and is currently facing charges of multiple felonies including aggravated battery and criminal mischief.
YouTube channel Real World Police released audio of Covington’s conversation with the police Friday, following the release of footage of Masvidal’s arrest and processing.
Covington claims that he was out on a night with friends, including Kyle Forgeard and Bob Menery, when Masvidal attacked him.
“As soon as we walk out, like, a bunch of people kind of bombarded us,” Covington told police. “They wanted pictures, a couple of people were asking me to sign gloves, like I signed four or five different gloves from three or four different fans. After being there about three to five minutes, we were ready to leave. Now it’s .’
time.
“As soon as we’re about to walk across the street, I get sideswiped from the side, like I get punched in the mouth real quick and kind of get dizzed up and I look up and I see who it is, I can see in his eyes, it’s Jorge Masvidal. I can see his hair coming out of his hoodie, but he has a face mask on. An operating face mask. But he’s saying, ‘You shouldn’t have f****** talked about my kids, you shouldn’t have f****** talked about my kids.’ So I was easily able to identify, like, that’s his voice, that’s his eyes, that’s his hair. He gave me two punches .”
. I knew exactly who that was.
Covington recalls Masvidal was not alone. After being struck, his instinct was to flee to his steakhouse and call the police.
The alleged altercation took place two weeks after Covington scored a unanimous decision victory over Masvidal in the main event of UFC 272 on March 5 in Las Vegas. Covington and Masvidal had been embroiled in a lengthy and deeply personal war of words, a feud that developed out of a former friendship.
“Yes. I have known this person for two years. We were also training partners for eighteen years. “We were very close friends, we literally trained together every single day, we were best friends. Obviously, I just fought this individual two weeks ago in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the UFC on their pay-per-view and I beat him easily, so I know exactly what he looks like, his eyes, his hair.”
Masvidal’s management released a string ofcryptic tweets that seemed to address the incident when it first came out. Masvidal said in an unrecorded Twitter video: “Call it the Show Your Face Challenge.” You’re from Dade county, what’s the matter? You talk that s*** you’ve got to back it up. This is how my city rolls .”
In the updated audio, Covington describes a damage to his tooth as well as how Masvidal’s punches dragged him to unconsciousness. Later, Covington claimed that he suffered from a brain injury as a result of the attack. This claim was refuted by Masvidal’s legal staff.
“I definitely suffered an injury to my tooth,” Covington said on March 21. He chipped my front teeth and knocked them out. The adrenaline is still going, but he rocked me. Although I did see stars, I kept my balance and tried to reach safety. That’s all I was concerned about.”
After being hit, Covington said that he couldn’t locate his attacker and his instinct to flee to the restaurant was his first reaction. He was sure that Masvidal was responsible.
He said that Masvidal had been motivated to attack him by personal attacks against Masvidal before their UFC 272 match.
“So the reference to the kids is in our last fight, the build-up at the press conference, I said, ‘Hey, you’re a deadbeat dad. Covington stated, “You don’t speak to your children.” Because we were so close friends, I have maintained a good relationship with him and our kids. So I continue to talk to his ex-wife as well as his baby mama. I’m still close with the family and I still like the kids.
“I was being honest, I said the honest truth. Although I understand that it is fight promotion, and there are many things you can do to promote a fight. But I told the truth. “Hey, you should talk to your children,” I said. Why are you a deadbeat father?'”
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2022/12/23/23524082/colby-covington-audio-police-alleged-jorge-masvidal-assault-released-i-was-trying-to-get-to-safety?rand=96749
