A couple of weeks ago, we learned that Jorge Masvidal (35-15) had pulled out of his UFC 269 matchup against Leon Edwards (19-3, 1 NC) with an injury. There were no details about what the injury was, we just knew that Masvidal was out and wouldn’t be able to compete until March or February.
This came on the heels of UFC 268 where Kamaru Usman (20-1) had defeated Colby Covington (16-3) by decision. Covington said in the post-fight press conference that Masvidal should pull out of the fight against Leon Edwards to fight him instead.
Of course, conspiracies were running wild after Masvidal pulled out of the fight just days later. Covington appeared on Submission Radio yesterday and talked about Masvidal pulling out and disclosed what he had heard about the injury.
According to Covington, Masvidal had to pull out of the UFC 269 matchup with fractured ribs. Covington would also go on to mock Masvidal for pulling out and called him the most fragile fighter on the roster.
UFC’s next Ultimate Fighter coaches?
Another thing that Covington has been pushing is for him and Masvidal to coach the UFC’s next season of The Ultimate Fighter. The show returned to ESPN+ this past year with Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega as the coaches.
However, those two were not the originally planned coaches. By all indications, the UFC originally wanted Masvidal and Covington to coach the show against each other. However, they pulled the plug on that at the last minute.
A lot of that had to do with the fact that it took forever for a deal to get close and even when one did, the UFC was preparing to bring fans back for UFC 261 and slotted Masvidal in against Kamaru Usman. Now, Masvidal and Covington have both lost to Kamaru Usman for a second time.
They are in very similar spots in the division and the heat is real between the two. These two coaching the show would be big business for the UFC and it would setup a huge fight that could take place in Miami. At this time, there’s no word on if these two will coach, but they have to be looked at as the front runners.