Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal were long well-known friends and teammates at American Top Team.
However, in recent times the pair’s relationship has soured and it has been played out in public for the world to see.
“Gamebred” in particular has opened about the issues between the two. For one, Masvidal has accused “Chaos” of owing money to a coach at American Top Team.
Now, Covington has indicated he is open to fighting Masvidal in the Octagon as both men find themselves around the top of the UFC’s welterweight division. He also indicated he is the one who always came off the better from years of sparring together.
“No, there’s no truth to that. Jorge is drawing at straws right now,” Covington told Submission Radio when asked about owing said coach money [H/T MMA Fighting]. “He has nothing else to say about me because he knows he can’t attack my fighting skills because he knows my fighting skills speak for themselves. And to be honest, he’s never won one second of any type of rounds we’ve ever trained together. And he knows that deep down inside. So he’s just looking for something to promote a future fight.
“We may have to fight each other. Former best friends turned foes. And that’s how this sport is. There’s no sports; there’s no friends in this type of sport. It’s an individual sport and it’s business, so we had to part our friendship. And he’s making up lies, man, he’s trying to say that I owe his coach money. And I can show you the receipts. I’ll go get the receipts right now and show you. I overpaid him if anything.
“The only percentage that I owe is to American Top Team. I pay them five percent every fight, and that’s the only people I have to pay. I have no obligation to pay any other coaches. All the other coaches that I pay is on me if I want to pay them or not, and I always paid his coach, man. I gave him $5,000 to $10,000 per fight, and I have the receipts too. So, you know, he’s lying, man. He has nothing else to say.”
Due to the combustible duo’s thoughts about one another, there are suggestions Covington will be unable to continue training at American Top Team. Covington denies this, saying his relationship with the gym staff and owner Dan Lambert remains.
But Covington insists the teammates are now more than willing to fight each other despite their ties to the same camp.
“Yeah, it’s business and we’re not gonna be friends, we’re gonna have to fight each other,” Covington said. “But it is what it is, man. Just grow up and let’s not play these childish games where you’re making up lies and you’re saying stupid stuff that isn’t true, let’s just be honest and call things the way they are, call a spade a spade. But apparently that’s hard for him. He’s a Miami little street thug.”
Covington is set to challenge UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman at UFC 245 in December. In the meantime, Masvidal takes on Nate Diaz for the newly-created ‘BMF’ belt at Madison Square Garden, New York, early November.
