A pair of former friends turned fierce rivals produced a five-round bout worthy of headliner status at UFC 272.
Colby Covington got the upper hand against his former roommate Jorge Masvidal via unanimous decision (49-46, 50-44, 50-45) in the main event Saturday night.
The two lived and trained together a decade ago when Covington was first starting out in combat sports, but they can’t stand each other now. Even though there was no title on the line, the fight was filled with hostility from both sides before and during it.
Covington controlled the action for the majority of the match. Masvidal’s only highlight was when he dropped Covington in the fourth round, but it wasn’t enough to secure the win.
“I should have had more moments like that, but I was off today,” Masvidal said, referencing his fourth round takedown in a post-match interview. “I didn’t have it.”
After the bout ended Covington could be seen sticking out his tongue and blowing kisses towards his rival.
But he quickly started looking ahead to his next fight, calling out former Interim UFC lightweight champion Dustin Poirier.
“I just took care of Miami street trash, now it’s time to take care of Louisiana swamp trash,” said Covington from the octagon. “Where you at Dustin Poirier.”
Other fighters from across UFC had mixed reactions to the result. Here are some of their takes from social media: