Colby Covington has revealed the source behind his “insider scoop” on Jorge Masvidal’s injury. He’s also opened up on the ex-teammates’ fractured friendship.
Yesterday, we ran a story about Covington claiming to have direct knowledge of the injury that forced Masvidal to withdraw from his UFC 269 bout against Leon Edwards. According to Covington, his source confirmed that Masvidal suffered fractured ribs during training, leaving the Gamebred fighter no choice but to pull out of the fight.
MMA News caught up with Covington shortly after he divulged this information, and he was very forthcoming about where he got his intel. As it happens, he says that it actually came straight from the top: American Top Team owner Dan Lambert.
“Yeah, Dan [Lambert] told me about Jorge’s [fractured] rib,” Covington confirmed.
A Fractured Friendship
So how did it come to this? How did two best friends become bitter enemies to the point where no boundary is respected? Covington says the feud originated in Brazil and is rooted in envy.
Everything changed for Colby Covington when he defeated Demian Maia in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2017. Not only was this the night he turned heel with his infamous “filthy animals” line, but it was also the beginning of the end of a close friendship, he says.
“I remember coming back from that trip from Brazil and he was just so salty, just like a diva—acting like he’s famous, having a big ego,” Covington told MMA News’s James Lynch. “I’ve never had an ego, man. I came from blue-collar Oregon from a blue-collar family, and I’m thankful for every little thing. I was thankful when I was riding the bike to the gym every day because I was broke and had no money to go train. But I was still thankful. And [I was never jealous] about anybody. I didn’t care.
“But as soon as I passed him up, started getting more success than him, he got jealous. He started saying comments in the media for no reason, like, ‘Oh, that crotch sniffer.’ Like, bro, what are you talking about? He’s like, ‘Oh, [I would] fight my mother.’ It’s not about that. Like, dude, we could go about this so much better than this, man. He could’ve been a better person. But it just showed his true colors, James. It showed the little thug that he is, the little criminal.
He’s broken the law. He’s a felon, James. And you know, I want to do something for law enforcement and all the first responders around the world. I wanna crush this dude.I want to beat this dude so bad he’s not recognizable the next day.”
Covington vs. Masvidal: As Real As It Gets
Covington has been lobbying for a grudge match against Masvidal for well over a year now. Recently, Masvidal let it be known that he, too, would love to meet “Chaos” head-on inside the Octagon as soon as early 2022 if Leon Edwards remains uninterested in rescheduling their bout.
Both Covington and Masvidal have also expressed an interest in coaching a season of The Ultimate Fighter opposite one another. Covington told MMA News that the story of best friends turned enemies would make for some compelling television and for an even better conclusion in a waged war in front of thousands of screaming fans.
Some have doubted whether such television between these two ex-teammates would be “reality” or pure fiction. That is because some fans have speculated that the entire rivalry between Covington and Masvidal has been fabricated to generate business.
After Covington scoffed at this conspiracy theory, he then let it be known that the bad blood between him and Masvidal is so real that it would spill onto the streets if the two should ever cross paths unexpectedly.
“Man, you must not be paying attention between the lines,” Covington said of skeptics of his feud with Masvidal. “We were best friends, inseparable, lived together for a couple years, just friends for almost a decade.
“You think we would really be saying these things about each other in the media? Like, if I see him in the streets, he’s for sure getting dropped on his head and he’s going to the hospital. He’s not going to be able to afford his hospital bills. I want the UFC to pay for them when I beat him in the Octagon.
“So I don’t want to have to do it in the streets, but this is a personal fight, James. This is as real as it gets, like the UFC’s saying goes. And anybody that thinks we’re still friends, man, I don’t know what they’re thinking, man. They must be smoking some good weed or something.”
You can view our full exclusive interview with Colby Covington below.
