UFC 272: Covington vs. Masvidal Preview

A battle between old friends, who are now enemies, takes center stage on Saturday night as Colby Covington takes on Jorge Masvidal in the main event at UFC 272.

Everyone loves a bit of bad blood, and there is plenty of it in the air ahead of this welterweight clash between Covington and Masvidal. There will be no title on the line, but there will be lots of pride at stake, and an opportunity for both competitors to hoist themselves back into the title picture. After both suffering defeats to the champion, Kamaru Usman, in their last outings, the two rivals will be eager to get back into the win column.

Covington comes in here with the wrestling advantage. Masvidal will fancy himself if the fight remains on the feet, where the fights goes is more than likely where the fight will be won. Masvidal has some very underrated takedown defence and Colby has developed into a solid striker. Covington knows too well that his chances of getting knocked out will increase if he plays around too much on the feet, I would expect him to mix up his striking and grappling quite a bit in this battle. Masvidal will need to stuff those takedown attempts and land his strikes, we will see very little kicks I feel, but Jorge’s boxing is one of his best weapons and he has the power in both hands to end the fight in an instant. The most important battle in this fight will be the clinch battle where Colby will try to progress from the clinch to lock in his takedowns. Masvidal will need to get himself off the cage ASAP, if he finds himself there. The clinch is the key battle in this heated rivalry.

Rafael dos Anjos was left without an opponent early in the week as Rafael Fizev was forced to pull out of their scheduled lightweight contest. Fellow Brazilian, Renato Moicano, answered the call at short notice and that means the former 155-pound champion has a new dance partner. The fight will take place at a catchweight of 160-pounds and it will be the first time dos Anjos has made the walk since November 2020 when he defeated Paul gelder by split decision. Moicano is coming off an impressive submission win over Alexander Hernandez at UFC 271.

A classic striker vs. grappler showdown will take place in the featherweight division as the undefeated Bryce Mitchell goes up again Brazilian veteran, Edson Barboza. This fight is a very winnable one for Barbosa if he manages to keep the fight standing, Mitchell has world class grappling but his counterpart who has the world class striking coming into this contest. I feel the only thing that will defeat Edson Barboza in this clash is father time itself. At 36-years old Barboza is coming to the twilight of his career but he should still have enough to get the job done in my book.

Kevin Holland moves back down to the welterweight division after his brief stint a middleweight didn’t quite go to plan. Recent defeats against Derek Brunson and Marvin Vettori prompted the move back down to 170-pounds where he will step in against UFC veteran Alex Oliveira. The Brazilian hasn’t had his hand raised since a win over Peter Sobota in July 2020 so there is also a lot on the line here for Oliveira. Opening up the main card is a heavyweight clash between Sergey Spivak and Greg Hardy. Spivak was defeated by hot prospect Tom Aspinall by first round knockout, Hardy also suffered a knockout loss when he was stopped by Tai Tuivasa in the very first round at UFC 264.

Jalin Turner and Jamie Mullarkey are set to lock horns in the lightweight division which will serve as the preliminary headliner. Marina Rodriguez had one of her most successful years in 2021 after defeating Amanda Ribas, Michelle Waterson and Mackenzie Dern. Yan Xiaonan will be next in line for the women’s strawweight standout, the Chinese fighter was defeated by Carla Esparza in her last outing. Nicolae Negumereanu and Kennedy Nzechukwu will go to battle in the light-heavyweight division. Negumereanu, who fights out of Romania, is 2-1 since his arrival to the UFC, he knocked out Ike Villanueva the last time he made the walk. His opponent, Kennedy Nzechukwu was on the wrong end of a knockout loss to Da Un Jung in his last trip to the cage. We have bad blood in the main event, we also have some in the prelims opener as Maryna Moroz goes up against Mariya Agapova in the women’s flyweight division. These women do not like each other and they are not afraid to show it which makes this an intriguing matchup.

Undefeated Russian prospect Umar Nurmagomedov takes on Brian Kelleher in the featherweight division, that will be the feature bout on the early prelims card. Tim Elliott made his UFC debut way back in 2012, he will step in to take on Tagir Ulanbekov, who is 2-0 inside the octagon, in a fight which takes place in the flyweight division. Devonte Smith and Ľudovít Klein will go to battle in the 155-pound division, both guys are coming off a loss and will be eager to get back into the win column. Michał Oleksiejczuk has racked up a two-fight win-streak and will look to build upon that when he faces off against Dustin Jacoby in the curtain jerker on Saturday night.

UFC 272 takes place on Saturday, March 6th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Main Card (BT Sports/ESPN+, 3am GMT)

Welterweight: Colby Covington (16-3) vs. Jorge Masvidal (35-5)

Catchweight (160 lb): Rafael dos Anjos (30-13) vs. Renato Moicano (16-4-1)

Featherweight: Edson Barboza (22-10) vs. Bryce Mitchell (14-0)

Welterweight: Kevin Holland (21-7) vs. Alex Oliveira (22-11-1)

Heavyweight: Sergey Spivak (13-3) vs. Greg Hardy (7-4)

Preliminary Card (BT Sports / ESPN+, 1am GMT)

Lightweight: Jalin Turner (11-5) vs. Jamie Mullarkey (14-4)

Women’s Strawweight: Marina Rodriguez (15-1-2) vs. Yan Xiaonan (13-2)

Light Heavyweight: Nicolae Negumereanu (11-1) vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu (9-2)

Women’s Flyweight: Maryna Moroz (10-3) vs. Mariya Agapova (10-2)

Early Preliminary Card (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass, 11pm GMT)

Featherweight: Brian Kelleher (24-12) vs. Umar Nurmagomedov (13-0)

Flyweight: Tim Elliott (17-12-1) vs. Tagir Ulanbekov (13-1)

Lightweight: Devonte Smith (11-3) vs. Ľudovít Klein (17-4)

Light Heavyweight: Michał Oleksiejczuk (16-4) vs. Dustin Jacoby (16-5-1)