UFC's Jorge Masvidal Given Stay-Away Order After Alleged Colby Covington Fight
April 28, 2022
The feud between UFC stars Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington, which has carried over to the real world, took a turn on Thursday.
Per TMZ Sports, a judge in Miami-Dade County ordered Masvidal to stay at least 25 feet away from Covington.
The order comes after Masvidal was arrested and charged with aggravated battery with a mask and criminal mischief last month for allegedly punching Covington at a restaurant.
According to police documents obtained by TMZ Sports, Covington told cops that Masvidal punched him in the face twice and broke one of his teeth after running "up to him from his left, and without notice, punched him with a closed fist two times in the face."
The documents noted Covington reported hearing Masvidal yell, "You shouldn't have been talking about my kids."
Masvidal sent out this tweet on March 22, one day after the alleged altercation took place:
Per TMZ, Masvidal's attorneys said they accept the stay-away order and understand that Covington is "scared of Masvidal."
Masvidal and Covington used to be friends and teammates at American Top Team. Gamebred even posted a photo on Instagram in 2015 with the caption "Family" featuring himself, Covington and Yoel Romero.
In a February interview with Farah Hannoun and Danny Segura of MMA Junkie, American Top Team owner Dan Lambert said things got so "toxic" between Masvidal and Covington that he asked both fighters to leave the gym.
"We’ve had lots of fighters in this gym over the last 25 years. We’ve had people that love each other, we’ve had people who don’t like each other, but we’ve always been able to separate that, keep some professionalism in the gym and not let it affect the team. Their situation got to the point where it was affecting people inside the gym, and I couldn’t keep it under control. And at one point, we had to tell both of them to leave."
Masvidal eventually returned to American Top Team, but Covington joined MMA Masters.
Per ESPN's Jeff Wagenheim, the issues between Masvidal and Covington began back in 2017 when Covington insulted Brazil, calling the country a "dump" and describing Brazilian fans as "filthy animals" after defeating Demian Maia at an event in Sao Paulo.
Wagenheim noted Covington's use of racist and xenophobic language in an attempt to make himself stand out in the welterweight division meant Brazilian fighters who train at American Top Team refused to work with him. Covington eventually started verbally attacking Masvidal and Dustin Poirer, leading to his exit from ATT.
The alleged altercation came less than three weeks after Covington and Masvidal squared off in the Octagon at UFC 272 on March 5. Covington won the bout by unanimous decision.