There's nothing fake about Jorge Masvidal, unlike his UFC 272 foe Colby Covington
LAS VEGAS — When Colby Covington finished the penultimate bout on his UFC contract in 2017 by defeating Dong Hyun Kim in Singapore, UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby made it clear to Covington that the company wasn’t going to make an effort to re-sign him.
The issue was that Covington’s wrestling heavy style was effective in winning fights, but was not winning him any fans. During the fight in Singapore, the fans booed lustily.
Covington knew he needed to do something, so he adopted the persona of a professional wrestling heel. He could never be outrageous enough. He become a diehard support of former President Donald Trump even though Covington had been a registered Democrat before that.
Just ripping his opponent wasn’t enough for Covington. He’d take extremely personal shots at their spouses or significant others, their parents, their coaches, even their children, as well as at the media, the fans and just about anyone he could think of.
On Wednesday at media day for UFC 272 at Apex, Covington belittled his opponent in the main event at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, Jorge Masvidal, for once using food stamps. And he referred to Masvidal derisively as “Fidel Castro Jr.”
Masvidal is of Cuban descent. He lost family members at the hands of the late Cuban dictator. Another relative was maimed trying to escape the country.
One of Masvidal’s aunts was trying to get to Guantanamo Bay to escape Cuba and get to freedom. The area was rigged with land mines and she stepped on one. According to Masvidal, she lost her left breast as a result of the explosion.
So Covington knew that a little more than 72 hours before he’d stand across the cage from Masvidal in perhaps the most bitter grudge match in UFC history, a zinger about Castro and Masvidal would get a reaction.
Covington’s comment did generate a reaction, but it likely wasn’t the one that he, or anyone who knows Masvidal, expected it to be.
“For him to say that, it’s for one thing: To get emotion out of me, and [get attention in] the newspapers,” Masvidal said. “The only person I dislike more than Colby Covington is no longer alive, and that’s Fidel Castro.”
Comments like that, and those that Covington has made about Masvidal’s children, are clearly crossing a line. Masvidal’s an explosive, hot-tempered fighter, but he insists there will be no emotion in the 25 minutes or less that the fight is being contested.
He’s vowed to do serious harm to Covington, but said his dislike for his one-time roommate won’t cause him to veer away from his game plan.
“I’ve been a professional now for 19 years and it’s not going to change on that night,” Masvidal said. “I’m not going to go, ‘Oh my God, it’s this guy that I hate’ and cock my hand back a little further to try to hit a little harder. Nah, it’s just business, man. It ain’t nothing personal. This is as close as it comes to being personal but it ain’t nothing personal in this s***.
“There’s a bunch of scumbags I’ve dealt with prior to Colby. None are at this level, but there are a bunch I’ve dealt with before and there will be a bunch I’ll deal with after. None of them will I take it personal. This is just a chapter in my life.”
From 'dead-ass broke' to bonafide PPV star
Masvidal is now one of the best fighters in the UFC and one of its best sellers. The show Saturday is a virtual sell-out and UFC president Dana White told Yahoo Sports the paid gate will be in excess of $6 million.
He’s averaged around a million buys in the three pay-per-view fights he’s headlined, two of which were for the welterweight title.
But there’s a picture making the rounds on social media this week of Masvidal in a far less successful time. He’s holding a hand-written sign that reads, “Hungry!! Will fight for food!! Backyards, UFC, KFC, etc. Show me the $$$!!!”
Masvidal had been fighting for Strikeforce when the UFC acquired it, and he was having difficulty getting a fight in the UFC in what he estimated was late 2012 or early 2013.
“The thing about that picture, while I was making light and making a joke of it, I was dead-ass broke,” Masvidal told Yahoo Sports.
He came into pro fighting from fighting on the streets where the late Kimbo Slice became a legendary character. In those days, Masvidal would fight for lunch and just the love of fighting.
But as he was nearing his 30th birthday, he viewed things differently. Even then, he was an outspoken, colorful and entertaining fighter, but he wasn’t widely known.
It wasn’t until he knocked out Darren Till in Till’s native England on March 16, 2019, that Masvidal really broke through. Till was much bigger than Masvidal, and was a quality striker as well, but Masvidal needed to take that fight.
After, he got into an altercation with welterweight Leon Edwards where he delivered his famous “three-piece and a soda.” Suddenly, he became a cult figure, and the celebrity only grew in his next outing when he raced out of his corner at the bell, leapt in the air and finished Ben Askren in five seconds at UFC 239 in one of the greatest, most stunning knockouts in UFC history.
He headlined UFC 244 at Madison Square Garden after that against Nate Diaz in the so-called “BMF” title fight. President Trump was in the crowd and actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson presented Masvidal with the belt.
Masvidal enters Saturday's bout as the bonafide star, and it’s all, he says, because the UFC got behind him and allowed the public to see what he’s all about.
There’s nothing fake about him, whether you like him or not or agree with what he says or not. And while he says it won’t be personal in the cage, his dislike for Covington runs deep.
“Both of us could be in a very bad situation where we could maybe help each other to get out of the situation, and I wouldn’t,” he said. “I’d say, ‘Nah, we both die here.’ In a sinking ship, I’m causing a fist fight with him right there and we both die, you know?”
There will be no handshakes or bro hugs afterward, either.
“I’m going to prophesize it now, [the media] are going to put ‘Colby Covington still in critical condition; might not make it,’ [in the headlines],” Masvidal said. “That’s all I’m trying to do, man.”
