After being warned for an early eye poke before round two began, Covington took some more kicks as Masvidal started the round strong, even landing elbows to the side of the head as Covington looked for the takedown. A low knee by Covington brought a momentary halt to the bout and restarted the action away from the fence, allowing Masvidal to land his punches, but when the now bloodied Covington slipped to the mat he used it to lock up with his foe briefly. Once standing again, Covington landed a couple stiff jabs to get inside, but again, Masvidal’s defense was solid. It was Covington stunning Masvidal briefly before the horn sounded, though.
Covington kept the pressure on to start round three and he got Masvidal down in the opening minute, setting up a series of ground strikes as he pinned “Gamebred” to the mat. With 90 seconds left, Covington looked for a choke, and while Masvidal tried to scramble free, “Chaos” wasn’t having it until Masvidal got daylight and landed two lefts at the end of the round.
In round four, Covington did some of his best standup striking work as he fired off an extended flurry on Masvidal, who then showed some signs of life with 90 seconds left as a flush right hand sent Covington to a knee. Masvidal seemingly had Covington hurt, but he didn’t press the action as it appeared fatigue was settling in. Soon enough, Covington had recovered, and now there were five minutes left in the fight.
A flurry by Covington to start round five allowed him to get the fight to the mat, and again he looked for the choke, but the fight was soon back on the feet. Covington stayed locked up with his opponent, dragging him to the canvas, where Masvidal had no answers. The choke attempt came again, Masvidal giving up the mount to escape, and just like that, the 25 minutes were up, with Covington and Masvidal just as bitter towards each other as ever. Not surprising.
Official Result – Colby Covington def. Jorge Masvidal via unanimous decision (49-46, 50-45, 50-44) | Official Scorecards
UFC 272: Covington vs Masvidal Results
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