Michael Bisping doesn’t think Colby Covington’s rivalry with Jorge Masvidal is manufactured.
The former friends, now bitter foes, finally will settle their score when they throw down in the UFC 272 main event March 5 in what is being dubbed as one of the biggest grudge matches in the history of the promotion.
Covington (16-3 MMA, 11-3 UFC) and Masvidal (35-15 MMA, 12-8 UFC) spent eight years training together at American Top Team, but things turned sour when Masvidal claimed Covington refused to pay his boxing coach. Covington eventually left American Top Team for MMA Masters.
It’s hard to believe an argument of that nature would end a brotherhood between two fighters who used to live and train together, which has had many wondering if this is a part of Covington’s character in trying to sell fights.
“Everyone that you speak to, by the way, says, ‘No, listen, Colby is a really good dude,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “‘He’s just selling fights. He’s putting on a persona.’ And maybe that’s true. If he’s doing it, if he is acting, then give the man a f*cking Oscar because he is acting his socks off each and every time.”
Covington admitted that he turned heel after the UFC threatened to let him go. After dominating Demian Maia in 2017, Covington took the mic in enemy territory and insulted the entire country of Brazil, which forced him to be escorted and protected by security until he departed the country. Ever since then, Covington ramped things up and has not minced his words toward Masvidal and various other fighters.
And because Covington went after Masvidal’s personal life, Bisping finds it hard to believe it’s part of an act.
“This stuff, going after Masvidal’s ex-wife, calling him a bad father and stuff like that, I don’t think that’s playing a part,” Bisping said. “I mean listen, any time two guys know each other, when they used to live with one another like they did, they know a lot of personal stuff about one another and then that’s when the rivalry or the hatred, for want of a better word, can get real thick.”
