I LOVE me a good old fashioned grudge match. Where the dislike is so intense that it takes a life of its own.
What a grudge match between Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal in UFC 272. The much-hyped match between the two former best friends turned bitter enemies didn’t disappoint. Unless you were expecting a titanic knockout or if you were expecting slam bam punching action then this isn’t the way Covington has fought since his first loss to Kumaru Usman.
In the second Covington-Usman fight, the former was more tactical and fought a better match. He certainly gave Usman trouble and for some quarters, should have even won.
In this match with Masvidal, Covington dominated four of the five rounds. Smart game plan to wear him out, get him on the canvass then sneak in those punches and elbows. He showed his superiority in wrestling and ground game.
As Joe Rogan said, “He [Covington] was just beating him [Masvidal] up.”
It’s one thing to beat an opponent by bloodying him up and it’s altogether another to thoroughly dominate him, outwrestle him. That gets you thinking you had nothing.
Covington won of course, by unanimous decision.
No sportsmanship by tapping gloves or ending the rivalry after the fight ended. I was a bit disappointed when he buried the hatchet with Usman by saying he was trying to earn a paycheck. No such thing in this bout against Masvidal. The hate was palpable in both words and in strikes.
And after the match, there was still more trash talking with Covington calling out Dustin Poirier.
Ah…what adopting a heel stance will do for you. And to think, he has been using professional wrestler Kurt Angle’s music!
The UFC must be thrilled. People like Colby rally and rile the fanbase. It’s good show and ultimately, ticket and pay-per-view sales.
I have always loved grudge matches. They make for great theater and water cooler talk.
As a kid, I thrilled to those Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fights. And several years ago, there were those battles in the National Football League between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots where the former took two super Bowl match-ups despite the latter being the favorite. And of course, there was Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia.
I must point out that in these four grudge matches I mentioned, the trash talking side won. The one side that didn’t win was Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.
Actually, what Brady said ahead of their meeting in the 2012 Super Bowl was tame by any standard but still.
In today’s Philippine Basketball Association… it just isn’t there. You can say there is this corporate rivalry, but that just happened to be there rather than one that developed organically.
Remember those days when Ginebra and Tanduay just hated each other? Even some sports columnists waded in and took shots at the Big J. Me? I had a laugh.
It will be a while before Covington fights. Is there anyone out there? Yes, there’s the UAAP. But it hasn’t started and we don’t know how all the teams will fare due to the long lay-off.
So now I am continuing to train my eye on the brutal war in Ukraine. Now that is one heck of a grudge match as these two countries well, have had something going on since 1722. I am not suggesting I enjoy this war. Far from it. It is just a tragedy. However this ends, it isn’t going to be like Usman and Covington burying the hatchet. Blood has been shed with wanton destruction inflicted on Ukraine.
This is one grudge match, where for the sake of the entire world, one can only pray for a settlement and some peace