A battle for the 305 will take place this weekend as two former roommates and training partners look to go head to head after a former friendship has has turned into a bitter rivalry. This is the most hate-filled rivalry the UFC has had since Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz were the first to become former training partners turned into opponents. There has been a lot of build up for this fight as their friendship deteriorated right before all of our eyes. We watched Jorge Masvidal climb his way through the ranks from a street-based fighter into an actual Welterweight contender alongside his former training partner Colby Covington, who has shown nothing but improvement since he has debuted in the UFC. With all the success both men were having it was inevitable that their names would eventually cross paths, and now here we are.
Jorge has been through plenty of ups and downs in his career, with a total of twenty fights inside the Octagon he has seen it all. He burst onto the scene back in 2013 after making a name for himself online with his street fighting videos. After his highly anticipated debut was over it was clear that Jorge was much more skilled than a street fighter. He showed an excellent range of mixed martial arts with his decision win over veteran Tim Means. Since then he has had multiple winning streaks followed by multiple losing streaks. In 2017 he decided to walk away from MMA and compete in a reality TV show. This year off may have been the best thing for Jorge at the time. During that year Jorge reevaluated what was important to him and came back to the United States a motivated man. 2019 was Jorge's coming out party, he won three huge PPV fights that made his name one of the most popular in all of MMA. After three extremely impressive wins Jorge got his shot at the title, falling short twice to the current pound for pound best fighter in the UFC, Kamaru Usman.
Colby's journey in the UFC also began around the same time as Jorge's. He entered the Octagon for the first time in 2014 scoring a first round stoppage win in his debut and looked very sharp. It was clear the Colby was more of a wrestler than a striker but what was even more impressive was his ability to use his endurance as a weapon. Colby has shown that he does not necessarily have devastating knockout power, but his ability to stay active and apply pressure to his opponents during a fight is like no other. Colby constantly throws combinations throughout every fight, never allowing his opponent to ever settle in or feel comfortable. What's even worse for his adversary is while he's putting all this volume in their face he's doing it all just to set up a takedown. Colby's wrestling is superior in the Welterweight division he has put that on full display after breaking most of his past opponents. Unlike Jorge, Colby has had mostly nothing but success in the UFC. He has had a total of 14 fights inside the Octagon with a record of 11-3. Colby, like Jorge, also had his chance at UFC gold twice but fell short to Usman in two epic fights.
Now with all the trash talk out of the way, lets lock these two men in the Octagon and settle this. With the rivalry finally coming to a head who does Vegas see walking away victorious?
Moneyline: Colby Covington (-305)/Jorge Masvidal (+240)
Total Rounds: Over 4.5 (-150) / Under 4.5 (+130)
Once again we have a main event with a heavy favorite. When I see any line with odds over -200 it's either a pass or parlay, but when I see this line I think stay away. Without a doubt Colby is the superior wrestler and most likely will make this a long frustrating night for Masvidal, but with that being said at odds of -305 that is far too heavy for me to put any money on this fight. Yes I do think Colby wins (unfortunately), but I will be passing on this one. As far as the total rounds goes I feel like this fight goes the full twenty-five minutes with Colby winning by decision. Even though I will be passing up on the main event, there are plenty of opportunities to make money and below are some of my top bets for this card.
TOP BETS FOR THIS CARD: Parlay: Kevin Holland (-325) + Tagir Ulanbekov (-220) Odds Combined: -110 Jalin Turner / Jamie Mullarkey Jalin Turner -150 Edson Barboza / Bryce Mitchell Bryce Mitchell -165 Sergey Spivac / Gregy Hardy Greg Hardy +175
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