Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal were once close friends before their relationship soured and the pair spent years trading barbs in interviews. On Saturday night, the pair met in the main event of UFC 272 from Las Vegas' T-Mobile Arena, with Covington grinding his way to a wide unanimous decision win by scores of 49-46, 50-44 and 50-45.
Masvidal opened the fight with a wild flying kick, but both men quickly slowed their pace into a more tactical approach before Masvidal landed leg kicks that appeared to bother Covington, leading to a takedown attack as Masvidal complained of an eye poke.
While Masvidal continued fighting off the takedown attempts, Covington slowly worked to continue dragging him down, eventually taking the back and working into dominant positions. Masvidal got his offense going in a more positive direction in the second round, landing some solid kicks and opening a cut near Covington's eye with a sharp elbow. Covington, meanwhile, remained committed to a grappling attack, using his striking to close distance in pursuit of initiating clinches.
The takedown came much easier for Covington in Round 3, planting Masvidal along the cage with a double-leg. That set up the round for Covington to dominate nearly every second of the five-minute frame with ground and pound. The work of Covington in the third round carried over into the early part of Round 4, clearly sapping the energy of Masvidal.
Still, Masvidal landed a crushing right hand that caused Covington to stumble backward and briefly take a knee.
Unfortunately for Masvidal, he didn't have the gas left in the tank to follow up after scoring the biggest single shot of the fight and Covington was able to recover before the round came to a close.
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Covington sucked the drama out of the final round by blitzing forward and taking Masvidal down. Once he'd grabbed ahold of Masvidal's body, Covington did not let go, smothering every attempt by Masvidal to get the fight back to the feet and simply grinding away the seconds to get to the scorecards.
It wasn't the emphatic ending many would like to see from such a heavily hyped grudge match, and after the scorecards were read, a dejected Masvidal was forced to admit that his wrestling "wasn't on point."
Covington refused to discuss the fight in his brief post-fight interview. Instead, he turned his attention to his next desired grudge match. Knowing that, like Masvidal, he'd already suffered two losses to current welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, Covington called out a former interim lightweight champ.
"I just took care of Miami street trash now it's time to take care of Louisiana swamp trash," Covington said. "Where you at, Dustin Poirier? You said it's on sight. Name the site, Dustin. ... You're next."
Elsewhere on the card, Rafael dos Anjos pieced up Renato Moicano over five grueling rounds despite a late rally in the fifth from Moicano. Dos Anjos battered his fellow Brazilian so much that the doctor was called in twice to check on Moicano's eye before allowing the fight to continue. Plus, Bryce Mitchell dominated Edson Barboza over 15 minutes to earn his biggest win to date at featherweight.
CBS Sports was with you the entire way on Saturday bringing you all the results and highlights from the UFC 272 below.
Round 5: Covington leaned on his wrestling, securing a much-needed takedown to avoid a messy decision. Covington worked for rear-naked chokes and ground-and-pound. It was a relatively uneventful round, but a much-needed one to likely secure "Chaos" the win. 10-9 Covington (49-46 overall for Covington)
Result: Colby Covington def. Jorge Masvidal via unanimous decision (49-46, 50-44, 50-45). Covington leaned on his takedowns and offensive output to stifle Masvidal over the majority of the five rounds.
Round 4: Covington hunted a few takedowns but was unsuccessful. "Chaos" did, however, get the better of a fatigued Masvidal on the feet. Covington landed multiple uppercuts and a couple of nice crosses before swarming Masvidal against the fence. Masvidal managed to roll with the punches and rocked Covington at approximately the 3:30 mark. Covington managed to recover, returning fire and making it to the end of the round. 10-9 Masvidal (39-37 overall for Covington)
Round 3: Covington scored a pivotal takedown and picked away at Masvidal on the ground for the majority of the frame. Masvidal made it to his feet in the closing seconds of the round. "Gamebred" landed two big punches; however, it likely wasn't enough to take the round back from Covington's ground-and-pound strikes. 10-9 Covington (30-27 Covington)
Round 2: Covington and Masvidal had measured exchanges on the feet. Covington pushed his rival to the fence for a takedown but absorbed several elbows for his efforts. Covington landed a clear knee to the cup that caused a pause and lost Covington his position against the fence. A big elbow by Masvidal cut Covington halfway through the round as "Gamebred" started to find his rhythm on the feet. Masvidal tripped Covington and engaged on the ground, leading Covington to briefly secure a back take. Covington arguably took the round in the closing moments landing a combination that briefly stumbled Masvidal. 10-9 Covington (20-18 Covington)
Round 1: Jorge Masvidal opened up with a crazy flying kick, attempting to recreate his iconic flying knee knockout of Ben Askren, but Colby Covington was mindful to not over-commit. The two exchanged on the feet briefly before Covington secured a takedown. Masvidal made his way to the feet with 30-seconds left but ate a big elbow on the clinch break. Covington capped off the round with a three-punch combination. 10-9 Covington
It is time for the main event. Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal were former roommates, best friends and training partners. That friendship dissolved, leading to one of the most bitter main event match-ups in UFC history.
Result: Rafael dos Anjos def. Renato Moicano unanimous decision (49-44, 49-45, 50-44). Moicano showed incredible heart and determination going five rounds on short notice. Over the course of the fight, however, dos Anjos exerted his will and earned a clear victory.
Round 5: The final round played out more like a sparring session. Dos Anjos appeared content with boxing, landing one takedown that Moicano quickly worked out of. Moicano cranked up the heat in the final 30-second, repeatedly landing hard punches on RDA that forced the former champion to retaliate with big punches of his own. Moicano 10-9 (49-44 overall for dos Anjos)
