Jorge Masvidal vs Colby Covington story of the tape: How fierce rivals compare before UFC 272's huge grudge match

JORGE MASVIDAL & Colby Covington are now on the right track to end their long-running feud.

Two-time challengers for the welterweight title will meet on March 5, in what promises to be an exciting UFC 272 card.

Before a publicized fall out in 2018, Masvidal and Covington were best friends. This led to many back and forths.

Masvidal, a fan favourite, accused Covington not paying one his coaches to train him for his interim title fight with Rafael dos Anjos.

The verbal war that will precede the long-awaited showdown between the pair will undoubtedly provide fireworks before their T-Mobile Arena fight.

It's a great match-up because they are so familiar with each other inside and out of the cage.

SunSport felt it was only right to report on what promises to be one the most important fights in 2022.

Age

Father Time is supporting the divisive and brash Covington who turns 34 on February 22.

Masvidal, a fan favourite who celebrated his 37th birthday in November 12th, is nearly four years older than Covington.

Physical

Both men are just short of 6 feet tall at 5'11", although BMF Masvidal has the longer limbs.

Gambred has a reach of 74 inches, while Covington only has 72 inches.

This advantage could be crucial for Masvidal, a slick striker, in his attempt to hit Covington just before he shoots to takedowns.

Experience

Covington is outclassed by Masvidal in the experience department, having had a staggering 50 professional mixed martial arts fights.

Miami's mauler is more than DOUBLE his former training partner, who has had his hand raised 36 times compared to Covington’s 16.

Form

Following unsuccessful attempts to dethrone Kamaru Usman, the welterweight king of the world, both men are now in the skid columns.

Masvidal suffered consecutive defeats to The Nigerian Nightmare, in July 2020 and April 2021. The latter saw him lose a brutal second round KO.

In the UFC 268 rematch last November, Covington lost to Usman via unanimous decision.

They've spoken.

Covington wrote to Brett Okamoto, an ESPN reporter, that Masvidal "must f***ing come up."

The official announcement of the bout was made by the former interim 170lbs champ, who said that "Street Judas will be buried in Sin City March 5th."

Masvidal stated that his friend Colby was the one and only person he has ever seen.

He knows this. He tried to attack me once and I was kicked out.

"And then, I used to go the spots that he used frequent a lot, and got the police to call me."