What really happened at UFC 241 between Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington? The former claims he was just trying to talk man-to-man.
Masvidal and Covington are no longer friends, at least in public, after their relationship fractured in 2019. The pair have constantly taken digs at each other in recent months, especially Covington.
So it was all the more intriguing that both of them were seated close to each other at UFC 241 back in August last year. UFC president Dana White revealed afterward that he had to warn Masvidal not to jump Covington or start a brawl.
While “Gamebred” confirmed that White did speak to him, he wasn’t trying to start anything — he was simply trying to get Covington to speak to him face-to-face after all the insults that the latter was spouting.
“Dana definitely did have a talk with me,” Masvidal told Submission Radio. “I mean, (Tyron) Woodley was a witness to it, my manager was a witness to it. There was rumors. Max Holloway was right next to me. And I see Colby there, and he’s been talking shit already for months online about me, about teammates. I go, hey, let’s talk like men, address me like a man. Mind you, he had just said that he called me and told me, hey, do a flying knee for the Ben Askren fight. Then when we start fighting he said we haven’t talked in two years. The guy’s just a habitual liar, and I’d love to just put it out there now.
“So, he hasn’t talked to me in about a year and a half, though he’s telling everyone he just talked to me to give that Ben Askren thing, and then you’re saying all this stupid shit. I go, ‘hey, let me talk to you, man.’ He goes, ‘man, be a professional’, and he turns around. I go, ‘yo, let me fucking talk to you, stop talking shit online, I can’t hear nothing, let’s go outside and talk.’ And he said, ‘that’s cool bro, I’m a fucking pro, I’m not going to be doing that,’ and he just kind of turned his back and starts kind of walking away, like, gets a little further for me. I said, alright, whatever.”
Masvidal revealed it was a few moments later that White came up to him and warned him not to start trouble. The reason? Covington claimed Masvidal was trying to start something.
“Before I know it, Dana White’s calling me over here trying to be funny – ‘Masvidal, I don’t need you giving out no three pieces and a soda’. I go, ‘fuck, what’re you talking about, man? I’m just here watching the fights, what are you talking about?’ He goes, ‘I got Colby over here telling me you’re trying to fuck him up, don’t do nothing’. Alright, fucking snitch.”
Whether the animosity between Masvidal and Covington is real or manufactured, a fight between the duo down the line would certainly do good business.
