Colby Covington dominated Jorge Masvidal to claim a one-sided unanimous decision Saturday night at UFC 272 at T-Mobile Arena in a grudge match between former teammates turned bitter rivals.
The judges scored the bout 49-46, 50-44 and 50-45 for Covington.
Covington wasted little time going to his bread and butter in the opening round, wrestling Masvidal against the cage and taking him down to the mat, where he controlled him for the majority of the first.
Masvidal had better success keeping the fight on the feet in a competitive Round 2, landing combinations, elbows and hard knees in the clinch. Covington continued to pressure Masvidal with his volume of punches and connected with a left hook to the chin in the final minute.
The third round was all Covington — he pressured Masvidal back against the cage before landing a takedown and gaining top position, where he worked ground-and-pound and hard strikes to the body for nearly the entire five minutes.
It was more of the same to start Round 4, as Covington used his combination of volume punching and wrestling to wear Masvidal down. He had Masvidal in big trouble when he went on the attack with a flurry of strikes that made Masvidal cover up. Masvidal remained game, however, and briefly stunned Covington, connecting with a massive right hand to the chin that made him drop to one knee.
Covington continued to assert his dominance in the final round, grinding a visibly tired Masvidal down with his superior wrestling and doing damage on the ground. The fight ended with Covington in full mount, and Masvidal kicked him off as the final bell sounded.
Covington (17-3) has won nine of his past 11 fights. He had dropped two of his previous three, both to UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, ESPN’s current pound-for-pound king.
Masvidal (35-16) has lost three straight, dropping his previous two against Usman in title fights. The Miami native rose to superstardom in 2019 with knockout victories over Darren Till, Ben Askren and Nate Diaz.