Colby Covington says Jorge Masvidal beef absolutely has to be settled in the cage

Now that Colby Covington has left American Top Team, a potential fight between him and Jorge Masvidal just got bigger.

Covington’s issues with teammates such as Masvidal and Dustin Poirier caused enough turmoil that he said it led to his split with ATT and owner Dan Lambert – though an amicable one.

And now that Covington (15-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) has parted ways with his longtime gym, a potential fight with Masvidal (35-13 MMA, 12-6 UFC) would no longer be a conflict of interest for the team.

“Absolutely, I do feel like it needs to be settled in the cage,” Covington told MMA Junkie. “But at the same time, if he doesn’t settle it in the cage, it will only be one reason and one person why it didn’t get settled in the cage – and that’ll be because of him. So if he tucks his tail in between his legs and runs away like the good little (expletive) that he is – he knows I’m his daddy, he knows I gave him so many spankings – so if he runs away, fans will know he’s a coward and he’s scared to fight.

“He doesn’t want to fight the best in the world, and we found out he’s all hype. He’s a 50-50 journeyman. Look at his record. His resume speaks for itself. He’s been knocked out. He’s been tapped out. Back in high school, he dropped out, and when we used to live together, I kicked him out. He’s a little (expletive).”

Covington’s main goal remains a rematch with UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, who stopped him late in Round 5 in a tightly contested battle this past December.

If not, then he’d like to get his hands on Masvidal. But either way, he’s keen on making both fights happen.

“Make no mistake about it: I’m fighting ‘Street Judas’ Masvidal. I’m going to fight ‘Marty Fake Newsman,’” Covington said. “It doesn’t matter which order.”

If the fight with Masvidal never materializes in the octagon, Covington is happy to settle things outside the cage since he plans on staying in South Florida after leaving American Top Team.

“If we don’t fight in the cage, for sure if I ever see him in the streets. We will fight, and he knows what’s going to happen when that happens,” Covington said.

“Deep down, he knows. He can try and hide it. He can try and make up all these fake lies that he likes to do: ‘Oh he’s crying,’ ‘Oh, he’s this,’ ‘Oh, he didn’t pay my coach.’ They’re some lies. But he’s never said anything about my skills because he knows last time we trained, I put him out cold.”