UFC: Masvidal Hits Out At Covington, Edwards And Diaz
After months of speculation as to who Jorge Masvidal will return against, it was announced last month that he will challenge Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title in the UFC 261 main event on April 24th. The fight announcement ended speculation that the 36 year old would coach on the upcoming 29th season of The Ultimate Fighter opposite Colby Covington, or rematch Nate Diaz in his next fight.
Masvidal previously stepped in on one weeks’ notice to fight Usman for the title last July at UFC 251, but was largely dominated for five rounds.
Coaching On TUF Opposite Colby Covington
Speaking to ESPN (as transcribed by BJPenn.com), Masvidal explained why the TUF gig never happened, saying that he would have ended up in jail if he had to spend six weeks filming the show with Covington.
“That was never an official call. They were throwing things out, everybody is calling me out, everybody wants to fight me,” Masvidal said. “They are throwing numerous things out at a time. Me being a coach on The Ultimate Fighter with Colby was probably never going to happen because I was for sure going to end up in handcuffs. You can’t pay me enough money to hear this idiot, nah it’s not happening. You can’t pay me enough money to have to do six weeks with this f***ing idiot. I would have gone to jail for a fact and I’m not trying to go to jail.”
Although he wasn’t prepared to fight Covington after spending a month and a half coaching opposite him on TUF, Masvidal says that they will fight. But only when he says so.
“I really wanna hurt this guy in a way that I’ve never done,” Masvidal stated. “I want to make it seem like the Ben Askren fight was very merciful compared to what I’m gonna do to Colby. Guaranteed. And that fight will take place, but when I the f*** say so.
‘Kicked Out Of ATT’
Masvidal also revealed that he got kicked out of American Top Team once for trying to assault Covington, who no longer trains at the South Florida gym.
“Colby’s that one person and I always say this, when I see him, it is a free pay-per-view right there,” Masvidal said. “He knows that and that’s why he used to make videos going ‘This guy’s so unprofessional and he tried to fight me on the street.’ I got kicked out of the gym for trying to assault him one time. I used to go to spots that he would frequent a lot and got the police called on me and things like that. I know a lot of people think, ‘Man you’re an idiot, you’re a professional fighter, why would you do that?’ Because I f***ing feel like it and nobody tells me what to do. It is more loyalty to me. You can’t do something wrong to someone I love, it just isn’t going to happen.”
‘Massive Fight’
As well as Covington, Masvidal also has several other on-going rivalries. One being Diaz, who he beat at UFC 244 after it was stopped by a ringside doctor at the end of the third round due to the cuts around the Stockton native’s eye. Another rival is Leon Edwards, who ‘Gamebred’ famously gave a ‘three piece and a soda’ to backstage at UFC London in 2019.
Out of his three rivals, Masvidal said that a fight with Diaz would be the biggest fight in the UFC.
“It’s not a massive fight,” Masvidal stated when asked about Covington. “I’m gonna sell out pay-per-views, but [Covington’s] not a draw in any way, shape or form… You would say me and maybe Leon Edwards is a massive fight; that’s not a massive fight. Nobody knows that motherf***er. I go to his hometown and they are asking me for pictures. Don’t nobody know that motherf***er. Me and Nate Diaz is a massive fight.”
Nate Diaz Rematch
While Masvidal has no interest in fighting Covington or Edwards right now, he says a rematch with Diaz will definitely happen at some point.
“My camp was talking to his camp. It didn’t happen,” Masvidal revealed. “I don’t know what the exact logistics are. He didn’t like the date, maybe he thought about it even more and he’s like ‘This guy’s gonna destroy my face again’ and maybe he wants to have a modeling career or something. I don’t know. I told him that I’ll run it back, so you can believe it. So we’re running it back. I don’t know when it’s gonna happen, it it’s gonna be this year or the next fight right after this, I don’t know. But guaranteed, we’re running it back at some point. As long as he says yes, I am more than willing to break his face, his ribs and his spirit again.”
Who do you want to see Jorge Masvidal fight first, Colby Covington, Leon Edwards, or Nate Diaz?
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