An intriguing confrontation between two irreconcilable rivals
The fight will take place on March 6 in Las Vegas (Nevada, USA) at the T-Mobile Arena and will become the main event of the UFC 272 tournament. The estimated start of the fight is 07:30 Kyiv time. The fight will be broadcast live on Setanta Sports.
Two former UFC welterweight title contenders will face off in the octagon: No. 1 Colby Covington (16-3) and No. 6 Jorge Masvidal (35-15).
Colby “Chaos” Covington
Covington’s 5-match winning streak in June 2018 took him to a fight for the interim UFC welterweight title against Rafael dos Anjos, and the RDA was successfully passed by Colby on points. However, a unification fight against regular champion Tyrone Woodley Covington failed due to nose surgery, which led to his title being stripped. In August 2019, Covington declassed Robbie Lawler in five rounds, and in December of that year, Covington still received a well-deserved title shot.
This time, the UFC champion was already Kamaru Usman, who stopped the challenger in the 5th round in a spectacular fight. In September 2020, Covington returned to crush Woodley, who pulled out of the fight in the fifth round with a rib injury. And in November 2021, Covington got a rematch against the still champion Usman and lost to him in a less intense fight by unanimous decision.
Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal
Masvidal fought his last two fights against Usman for the title. In July 2020, he came out on short notice to Gilbert Burns, who had contracted the coronavirus. At the time, Masvidal was on an excellent three win streak. First, he knocked out Darren Till and Ben Askren (in 5 seconds!), and then won the BMF belt by defeating Nate Diaz by TKO after the 3rd round. And before this series, Masvidal suffered two defeats in a row – to Stephen Thompson and Demian Maia – and dropped out of competitive sports for almost a year and a half. Masvidal did not become a worthy opponent for Usman, and he defeated him by a unilateral decision.
In April of the following year, Masvidal, having already undergone full training, was knocked out by Usman in the second round. In December, Masvidal was scheduled to fight Leon Edwards, but an injury prevented Jorge from competing at UFC 269.
Prediction for the fight
Covington and Masvidal were not only teammates in the American Top Team gym a few years ago, but they were also close friends. At one time, Covington even slept on Masvidal’s couch. However, when Covington decided to turn on the thrash talk master in 2017, a black cat ran between him and his teammates, including Masvidal. Since then, the two welterweights have been in a serious confrontation.
As mentioned above, their only losses in recent years have come against Usman, but there is no shame in losing to the Nigerian Nightmare.
At least on paper, stylistically, Covington is in the best position. He is probably the second strongest fighter in the division behind Usman and Chaos gave the champion more competitive fights compared to Masvidal. Covington and Usman consider wrestling to be their forte, but in general they are two different fighters. Usman prioritizes jabs, takedowns, and a methodical approach in order to get the opportunity to land a smashing blow, which happened in his rematch with Masvidal.
“Chaos” is pressure, forward movement and rapid pace. Usman was not inferior to him, but before that, Covington dominated Lawler, Dos Anjos, Demian Maia, inflicting great damage on them with his punches. If Covington decides to swing with Masvidal on the stand, then, of course, he may have problems. “Gamebred” is one of the best drummers in the promotion.
However, can Masvidal keep up with Covington’s pace, especially if Colby decides to convert his takedowns to really force his opponent to back off? It is hard to say.
If Covington decided to trade blows, then for him such a risk may not end very well, but the struggle of styles in this pair favors him too much to choose Masvidal as the winner.
Forecast: Colby Covington win on points
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