Former MMA fighter Jorge Masvidal’s relationship with Colby Covington is as complicated as it gets. The two fighters started as friends but now have feelings of animosity towards each other. However, both Masvidal and Covington have one common factor: their support for former United States President Donald Trump.
By now, almost everyone in the UFC world knows about Colby Covington’s passionate support for Donald Trump. It is also expected that Trump will be in attendance for Covington’s upcoming UFC 296 clash against Leon Edwards. Covington has also confirmed that if he wins the Welterweight title bout against Edwards, Trump will be the one to put the belt around him.
On the other hand, Jorge Masvidal is also a fervent supporter of the 45th United States President. He joined Donald Trump in Florida in 2020 for the latter’s ‘Fighters Against Socialism’ campaign. Masvidal had also once admitted that he was invited to the White House by Trump and called Trump “a bad motherf**ker.” However, Masvidal had also claimed that Colby Covington was a fake Donald Trump fan.
Jorge Masvidal disputes Colby Covington being US President Donald Trump’s favorite fighter🥊#jorgemasvidal #colbycovington #US #donaldtrump #mma #UFC290 #ufc287 #UFC pic.twitter.com/4z90oR8nzo
— FirstSportz MMA (@FightsCombat) July 18, 2023
Back in 2022, Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington went head-to-head in the UFC 272 clash. Ahead of the fight, Colby called Masvidal a liar and said, “The guy’s the biggest piece of sh*t on planet Earth”. However, later Jorge talked about ‘Chaos’ and said, “Ask him any question about Trump’s policy. Anything that Trump changed or didn’t change, and see what the f*ck he tells you”.
He further stated that Colby Covington only wanted to have his name associated with Donald Trump for fame and clout. Nevertheless, Covington rubbished Jorge Masvidal’s claims and asked the fans not to believe anything the ex-MMA fighter said. He also claimed Trump was only associating with Masvidal “to get the Latin vote“. Later, Colby also mentioned that Masvidal was a communist who was dressed as a Republican.
What happened between Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal?
Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal’s relationship took a turn for the worse way back in 2018. Covington, who was training for an interim welterweight championship fight against Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 225, was being coached by Masvidal’s trainer, Paulino Hernandez. The story of how Colby and Jorge went from being good friends to sworn enemies was revealed by Hernandez in an interview in 2022.
Paulino Hernandez revealed that he had an agreement with Colby Covington that he would receive 5% of Colby’s purse, excluding the sponsorship money. However, after Covington won his fight against dos Anjos, he didn’t pay Hernandez the agreed-upon amount. As per Hernandez, ‘Chaos’ brought home $350,000 from the fight but gave Paulino only $5000.
This caused a rift between Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal, who was also being coached by Hernandez. However, Covington later denied Hernanzed’s account of what happened. According to the 35-year-old fighter, he didn’t cheat the coach, as he received only half of the promised amount. Unfortunately, the truth looks unlikely to come out, as the regulatory body for that fight didn’t disclose the payouts.