LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Colby Covington[/autotag] believes [autotag]Tyron Woodley[/autotag] was a lot tougher to deal with in practice than [autotag]Jorge Masvidal[/autotag].
Covington (16-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC), who was brought in straight out of Oregon State by his old gym, American Top Team, used to be a main sparring partner for both Woodley and Masvidal.
Over the years, Covington’s relationship with both men turned sour, which led to his eventual departure from the gym. Covington settled his score with Woodley (19-6-1 MMA, 9-5-1 UFC) over the weekend when he dominated and stopped him in Round 5 of the UFC on ESPN+ 36 main event, and he has now set his sights on Masvidal.
Covington and Masvidal (35-14 MMA, 12-7 UFC) used to be roommates and a pivotal part in each other’s fight camp preparations. They have spent plenty hours on the mats, a few which are documented in Masvidal’s infamous video blo, “Tales From the Grind.”
Speaking to reporters, including MMA Junkie, at the UFC on ESPN+ 36 post-fight news conference, Covington insists that Woodley used to give him a harder go in training than Masvidal did.
“Definitely Tyron was more competitive,” Covington said. “I mean you could go look at the videos of me training with Jorge Masvidal. There’s a video on YouTube, us in the apartment training for two hours straight, me just toying with him, playing with him. When I used to train with Jorge in the gym, they used to tell me to go light on him.
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“They’d be like, ‘Hey, go light on him today. He’s preparing for his fights so we want to build his confidence. We don’t want him to go into his fight beat down so go easy on him today because we want to make sure he’s confident going into his fight.’ ‘Street Judas’ Masvidal knows who his daddy is. I’m so mad that last father’s day, he didn’t give me a shout out because I am Jorge Masvidal’s daddy.”
It’s no secret that Covington wants another crack at UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, but with Usman booked against Gilbert Burns in December, Covington has set his sights on Masvidal.
“Where’s Jorge Masvidal at?” Covington said. “He needs to come see me for all the talking he’s done. Come see if can walk the walk. I talk the talk and I walk the walk. I want to see Jorge Masvidal in that octagon. … I want the best friends turned enemy fight with ‘Street Judas’ Jorge Masvidal.
“He’s been talking all that talk reckless. He used to talk at the old gym, ‘I’m going to beat your ass, I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that.’ OK. Let’s see it. Come see me in the octagon then. He’s going after that California soy-boy Nate Diaz because he’s going after easy fights. I’m going to expose him like I did Tyron Woodley tonight.”
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