A uncommon non-title battle headlined Saturday evening’s UFC 272, as a welterweight grudge match between former coaching companions headlined the cardboard at T-Cellular Area in Las Vegas.
The detest went backwards and forwards between Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal within the buildup to the battle. However as soon as it obtained began, the visitors went a method — Covington dominated the bout en path to a unanimous determination on the scorecards: 49-46, 50-44 and 50-45.
Covington (17-3) is a relentless wrestler with a deep fuel tank and an underrated putting sport, and all of this was on show in a rinse-and-repeat efficiency over 5 rounds.
The veteran Masvidal (35-16), who appears on the draw back, had flashes of his former self and even dropped Covington to 1 knee together with his greatest punch of the battle within the fourth spherical, however he by no means obtained something sustained going.
Covington has gained 9 of his previous 11, with the 2 losses coming to UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. Masvidal has dropped three in a row.
Within the night’s co-feature bout, Renato Moicano confirmed nice coronary heart in taking a battle with former UFC light-weight champion Rafael dos Anjos on 5 days’ discover and flying in from Brazil for a 5 spherical, 160-pound catchweight battle.
However that’s principally the place the superlatives ended, as dos Anjos (31-13) rolled to a unanimous determination over Moicano (16-5-1), who fought simply three weeks in the past at UFC 271. The judges’ scores have been 49-45, 49-44 and 50-44.
Dos Anjos dominated all elements of the battle from the leap.
Within the third, Dos Anjos landed an ideal head kick, then laid down a hellacious beating on the mat. Moicano in some way made it to the tip of the spherical. Together with his left eye almost swollen shut between rounds, the ringside physician examined him and inexplicably cleared him to proceed.
Dos Anjos dominated once more within the fourth, and the physician once more cleared him. Dos Anjos noticeably took his foot off the fuel pedal within the fifth and cruised to seal his twentieth profession UFC win.
