UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman weighed in on the alleged altercation between Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington outside of a Miami restaurant on March 21.
The incident reportedly left Covington with a fractured tooth and resulted in Masvidal facing one count of aggravated battery resulting in great bodily harm and one count of criminal mischief.
“The Nigerian Nightmare” addressed the situation between Covington and Masvidal during a recent Instagram live stream ((h/t MMAJunkie).
“One, it’s unfortunate because it’s taken itself, it’s growing legs now out of just sports to actuality and reality. That’s what’s the danger about what you say trying to build a fight or leading up to a fight. You have to watch your mouth. You can’t just run off at the mouth and say what you want or do what you want and expect the opponent to still keep it sport-related,” Usman said.
“Now (Masvidal is) facing counts, and now you could potentially go away. So that’s the unfortunate nature of the situation. I don’t like it. Both guys, I believe, are in the wrong. You can’t just do what you want and say what you want just because you want to sell something, and I feel that’s wrong – very wrong.”
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“But also, you can’t go as an athlete – as an elite athlete, you’re one of the best athletes in the world – you can’t just go attacking somebody in the street. Yeah, I understand it’s another athlete, but you can’t just do that when it’s outside of competition. So both guys took a big ‘L’ on that one. (I) pray for both, though. (I) hope they’re OK.”
Usman holds two wins over both Covington and Masvidal. Masvidal and Covington used to be teammates, training partners and best friends, but those days are long gone. The two fought in the UFC 272 main event on March 5. Covington defeated Masvidal by unanimous decision.
Kamaru Usman believes Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington were both wrong in ‘unfortunate’ altercation
