MMA Fighting - Reaction | Colby Covington vs. Jorge Masvidal Press Conference | UFC 272

Episode Date: March 4, 2022

Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal took the stage at the UFC 272 press conference where things went off the rails immediately. Following the first face-off between Covington and Masivdal, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck, Steven Marrocco, and Jed Meshew react to Thursday’s press conference, discuss their overall thoughts, if there was a winner, and more ahead of Saturday’s five-round bout at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow Jed Meshew: @JedKMeshew Follow Steven Marrocco: @MMAFightingSM Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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tables, or join a live dealer game to feel the thrill of real-time action, all from the comfort of your own devices. Why settle for less when you can go for the gold at Golden Nugget Online Casino. Gambling problem call connects Ontario 1866531-260. 19 and over, physically present in Ontario. Eligibility restrictions apply. See Golden Nuggett Casino.com for details. Please play responsibly. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. All right. Mike Hack here for MFighting.com reacting to what we just witnessed not long ago, the UFC 272 press conference with Colby Covington and Jorge Mazadol.

And, well, that was something to put it mildly as I'm being joined by a couple of my colleagues, MMA fighting deputy editor, Stephen Morocco, and Jed Bishu, also from MMAFinding.com. the winner of Between the Links a little bit earlier. But Stephen, let me begin with you because you are the season veteran here. You've been in this game for a while. You've seen many a press conference in your day. Where does this one rank? Is this the all-time cringiest press conference of all time?

And is this the first ever press conference where the most asked question was, how does a bill become a law? Well, I mean, it's been training this way for a while. So in terms of the questions that get asked, I'm no longer surprised by anything. they just continue to trend downward. So there's, there's, when it comes to my expectations for the media's participation in these things, they're getting lower by the moment.

But as far as like, you know, most cringy, we've had some cringy ones before. I think the thing that separated this one from other ones is there was just, there was nothing other than just bickering. like that's that that's what it was he was it was what it was billed as like a caricature of that basically and to me you know having having watched this kind of stuff forever it's like you reach a point of diminishing returns but then at the same time you look at people in the audience and whose faces by the way are are looking younger and younger and some of them look like they're genuinely enjoying themselves. Like, they're kind of in on the joke, so to speak. So, I mean, I found it

headache-inducing and just sort of boring and not at all inspiring. But as we were talking about earlier, I don't know if I really expected anything different. I mean, if I was in the crowd and I was in Las Vegas and I wasn't working and I was drinking since 11 a.m., I probably would be in the audience enjoying myself as well, like most of those youngsters out there. living the Vegas lifestyle. But Jed, if you could use one word to describe that press conference between Covington and Mazadol, what would you use? And then use more than one word to explain why you use that one word.

It's really easy. Infantile, because it's, and I don't need that many words. I feel like it's pretty self-explanatory. That was probably the worst possible outcome for that press conference. Now, on the other hand, there's a really strong argument that it was also the best possible outcome. There was a very narrow range of outcomes with this possible press conference. But it was just, you would have hoped that Colby would have had some more prepared material and that Mosvodal would have been better.

Like, Jorge Moswell has never been like super great at playing the dozens. But he's not awful at it. And he, you know, has been around people who have said cooler things than him just literally being the most childish person of all. Just being like, wow, whatever, whatever, what a weird childish infantile stuff. So it was never going to be great because Colby, Colby has his prepared material and that runs out very quickly. And Colby never took me up on my offer that I extended many times on BTL to help coach him for this. And so he ran out of what he had to say almost immediately, and he's super bad off the cuff. So it was just really unfortunate.

Arguably, it was inevitable, but it was certainly infantile. That's what it was. We don't do reactions to these press conferences all that often. I think the last one we actually did it for was the Connor McGregor, Dustin Porier, trilogy fight at UFC 264. I think we did one for the podcast network after that. And when you have these things, you sort of look at social media and how people are reacting in real time. And I remember Connor was just trying to push Porreys' buttons big time.

And Porreier sort of dealt with it, was very professional, fired off some zingers. You could tell he got under McGregor's skin a little bit, but you try to play sort of the sports psychologist in a way and try to figure out who was more rattled if anybody was rattled. Who got under whose skin the most? So, Jed, let me ask you, did you see anything, any body language, anything tell you that, oh, boy, I'm favoring this guy more because I think he got in this dude's head. He's got rattled out there. No, I don't think anybody got rattled from the fight. I do think Mosswoodall got oddly, like, rattled by Colby's bad trash talk. Again, not from like a fighting standpoint, but I forget what it was.

He at one point just, like, conceded a very dumb point that Colby made. Colby being like, yeah, you have to pay half your paycheck in alimony. And then he was like, he was quiet. And then was like, yeah, but at least I get half a paycheck. Like it was just, it's not a good line from Colby, but Mossboro just had nothing to offer. And honestly, it kind of felt like he had nothing to offer that whole press conference. He had the weird briefcase.

I don't know what the hell that was about. It was all just really bad for Mossvedal. And Covington wasn't good, but really. used to Covington being not good. So maybe he's getting graded on a curve as a result. Steven, do you see anything that surprised you? I mean, both these guys are veterans. So, you know, maybe when the fight begins,

emotions will run wild. Maybe for both guys a little bit. I don't think both guys are going to come out, be completely reckless and angry and just do things completely out of the ordinary. But did you come out of that feeling like one guy was possibly shook more than the other? To me, what came to mind is the fact that Jorge kept bringing up star power and pay-per-view points. Like he was trying to emasculate Colby through his earning power. Like that was a way to basically get to him, to really get to him, is to basically say, you're not a star.

You're not important. but I think in doing that he kind of like in leaning on it so heavily to me was like he revealed that that actually got to him like all this talk about you know who's a bigger star and like all the trash talk

that he's been doing that Colby's been doing and leading up to this has made him go back to the well with that the worst thing that he can do is to basically emasculate him by saying you're not a star and you're not important. So that's what it brought up to me. I don't think that,

I think both of these guys kind of came with a game plan and it kind of went off the rails in the way that it only can in MMA, like when people come in with plans. So it was just kind of a train wreck. But apart from the fan, you know, I think there was something that, with the family stuff, I think that Colby looking into Jorge's eyes and talking about, you know, his children and his family, I think that did get to him a little bit. So I think that was about as

much as it was. But, you know, when somebody's just talking over you nonstop, you know, it's just like a radio station you want to turn off. And I think they turned off to it as much as a lot of us did. You know, if you can't, if there's no point, why even, why even, why even speak. You know, why not just start making infatile baby noises, which is what Jorge basically resorted to. Honestly, it would have been

so much better if every time Colby opened his mouth, he just went, like that would have been substantially better mic work from him. It would have been incredible, actually. I would have immediately declared him the winner of the press conference.

I mean, it started immediately. My question is like, what's good mic work from from horay like what would have been the the way to go about this like how do you how do you talk to a buffoon like colby you don't and that's it like what what's that old saying you know don't argue with an idiot they'll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience you can't because colby covington is teflon in this is everything he has is mostly trash anything that is even remotely decent is pre-written.

And off the cuff, he is just like super lame. So you just can't play the game with him because he, you're going to also look stupid. But that's Colby's gimmick is looking like an idiot. So it doesn't affect him. And in the end, Jorge didn't do anything good. And nothing, Colby had one really good line, frankly.

And that, I mean, I also actually was a little bit partial to the, how does a bill become a law? because it was so ridiculous that it was kind of funny to me. But the one time he went off the cuff and had something good was when he responded to Jorge saying, you used to live in my house, like, no, I lived in your wife's house.

She paid the bills, deadbeat. And I was like, that was a good zinger. And you could see that one kind of did stir up a little something in Mossfiel. But the rest of it, like, Jorge can't win that game. He's just going to look equally as dumb, which is anathema to his whole brand. He should just stayed out of it. I was just waiting for the dancing page of the Constitution

to come march it on stage and sing the song about how Bill becomes the law. I mean, that just would have been incredible theater. Absolutely fantastic theater. And, you know, talking about the expectations and having these two guys at a room and thinking about Covington Schick and what Mazadol is going to bring to the table, it's just sometimes I feel. like these fight weeks, especially these main events, when they're really trying to build up the heat and animosity of a fight is like oversaturation city when it comes to interviews and appearances. And one thing that drives absolutely insane about this post-COVID error of the UFC is if you're going to have a press conference on Thursday with Covington and Mazadol, why have Covington and Mazadol go to the media day when they're going to get the exact same questions, they're going to answer them by themselves, and then they're going to get the exact same questions the next day just yelling, over each other when each of them had a chance to watch the other's media day scrum.

Like, it's just crazy. It drives you absolutely insane. This is probably the hundredth time that each of these guys have gotten these questions in the promotion of this fight. There's no way this wasn't going to go off the rail. So, Stephen, if you're Dana White right now, if you're the UFC, are you thinking to yourself, oh my God, we just sold 150,000 more pay-per-views because of this press conference? Or are you like, eh, maybe we should think about our fight week promotion and maybe do some tweaks next time around? Well, I mean, that's to say nothing.

You're not even talking about the ESPN car washes. You know, they did all the ESPN interviews, extended 30-minute interviews about all this stuff. They did the favorite media partner tour. I mean, all of these storylines have been talked out to death. And so when they show up at the press conference, there's really not a whole lot left. It's really more about the stare down. And I think that's kind of the money, if you will, of that whole thing. I mean, especially the way things are going with, you know, the actual media questions.

There's just there's just not a whole lot to work with. So what you're really paying for is that 30 seconds when they stare off and they look into each other's eyes and maybe one of them throws a shot. So I don't think, I think it was, if I'm Dana White, I'm thinking, I'm probably thinking, yeah, we got what we needed out of this. We got it was about what we expected. Nobody hit each other so we won't have to do with the commission. And now we can just, you know, wait for the money to roll in on Saturday. Although I don't know if this is going to be the draw that they think it's going to be. Jorge has been a big draw, you know, after the whole 2019 that he had.

And that's why he got the immediate rematch. I think the next best option was Colby Covington. and that's why he got the rematch. Now we're two guys who don't have that, who have that history with each other, but I'm not sure it's as much of a bankable thing that they're counting on, or it's going to be as big as something

with an actual real title on the line. Because, you know, they do market these title fights for a reason. They do put title fights at the top of a card for a reason because they sell. So, yeah, I think it went about, about as good as it could if I'm, if I'm thinking from the UFC's perspective. Yeah,

what's interesting about some of the, the draw comments is that if you look, and these are reported numbers, UFC 261, Mazadol, or Usman versus Mazadol, right around 700,000 buys. UFC 268, Covington versus Usman, right around 700,000 buys.

So almost exactly the same buy rate for two title fights against the same opponent. So, I don't know, maybe it's just because MSG and, Coveington. I mean, 2016. When was the stack card? 268 was a ridiculous card on paper. So maybe it's just the, you know, the spoils, the riches, so to speak.

But what do you think, Jed? Do you think the UFC is the UFC brass is out to dinner toasting a tremendous and successful press conference that they're going to make a whole bunch of money on Saturday night because everyone's going to buy the pay-per-view after that 25 minutes? No, but I also don't think they're thinking critically about how they promote stuff and trying to figure out better ways to do it. They do what they do at this point. They're not going to change for anyone.

I echo a lot of what Stephen said. I'm curious how this will do on pay-per-view. Honestly, and it's going to sound dumb, legitimately, the price hike is starting to become a problem for consumers. Like, I've heard a lot from people reaching out to me, talking to me that $75 bucks is not something they're willing to pay for this pay-per-view card. they're interested in the main event, but there's nothing else for a casual fan to hang their hat on.

And $75 is not small when they were paying $60 for two years ago or whatever that price jump was or something like that. So I don't know how they're going to do on pay-per-view, but regardless whether it kills it or whether it does poorly, I have no belief that they are going to think critically about what they've done to lead up to this and adjust moving forward, how they promote bouts. So that's not who the UFC is. Yeah, that's a great point about the price hike because now you get 273 coming up in a month. You get two title fights. And now you get Shimae versus Burns on that card too. I mean, if people, which a lot of people are, times are tight right now, everything's going up in price.

Like at this point, if you can only some of these people, most of these people can only watch. I have to pick one. And they're going to pick, or 273. It's just the better car bottom, is it not? For sure. If I'm buying one pay-per-view every quarter or this year, I'm buying 273. It's not even close to close. This is not the, you've got this.

And frankly, I think the press conference object, it was really bad to me from a sell-this-fight perspective. Casey, we were talking before, maybe it couldn't have gone. any better, we've gone over that. It felt so much more contrived at the press conference than it had ever felt during the rest of this buildup. And I think we saw a lot of comments coming out from fans, getting people posting it on this chat, saying, hey, these guys are still friends. This is all just a pro wrestling gimmick.

And I don't really believe that, but man, they just dialed up the nonsense. Like, you did not need four security guards and two UFC dudes on either. side of Dana to separate those two men. It was just obviously ridiculous and looks absurd. So it felt a lot more like, okay, we're just, this is all really WWE stuff. And maybe that sells, you know, I can't say I speak confidently about the appetites of the consumer base these days. But to me, it was the most off-putting of anything that's happened in the buildup to this. Oh man, you just you just put a great idea in my head Like instead of doing a press conference

They should have just done a freaking contract signing Like right there Have each guy like go up sit across each other At the pan they each sign Then they stare down and then we're out of there Maybe there's a skirmish Maybe someone gets thrown through a table Everybody wins

That's way more exciting than what we just watch For 25 minutes Steven Is it? Like that's a way better idea Yeah if you're building yourself As the ultimate fighting championship where, you know, these are, you're actually trying to find the best fighter in the world, and this is a sporting competition. We've been trending the opposite direction for a long time.

So, like, if you're looking at pro wrestling with punches, this looks pretty good, right? Because these guys were essentially pro wrestling characters. It was incredibly contrived. And you're in on the joke, right? If you're a pro wrestling fan, you're in on the joke. Casey goes to pro wrestling shows, not because he loves the athleticism, but because he's in on the joke, right? I'm speaking for Casey, of course.

He can't talk now because he's producing the show. He's going to talk to me later. This is true. This is true. He's in on the joke. That's the part. That's the thing that drives the car. And so I think we've been drifting that way for longer and longer.

And I think us who like the sport of all this stuff and like, you know, care about the X's and nose, we're just pissed that our noses are being rubbed in it. Last question here. I don't mind this. I just wanted to be better. Like, I just, like, I was in on Chal's MMA. Aggressively, like, borderline super racist commentary was a bit too much. But Chale Sondon was just way better Colby Covington, or I guess more accurately,

Colby Covington is bootleg Chale Sondon. Like, if you're going to do it, it's not that hard to do. Just don't suck at it. Be better. I feel like we can demand. It is hard to do it. It is hard to do it. It is hard to do it.

It is hard to improvise on the spot in front of, you know, thousands and thousands of people in a camera. Like these guys are, these guys train as martial artists. They don't train in the theater. Like, and when you go to WWE, don't you get training in all this stuff?

Don't you, you get training in mic work, you do all your physical work, you learn all the moves and stuff like that. It's part of an integrated thing. These guys don't get any media training. They punch heavy bags all day. they one they could do that and two you just need like three crutches to fall back on just like okay

well i don't have anything off the cuff to say here i'm just going to dig back on this same thing there's a reason that the rock said can you smell what i'm cooking or whatever the shit his tagline was not a pro wrestling guy my bad guys is because you can't always get stuff up you just got to be able to hit the hit the high notes you just need a couple of crutches and some media training you just can't be as bad as colby's been doing this for like five years and he has gotten better but is still really bad for as long as he's been doing this. Like, I just want him to be better at it. I don't think that's asking a lot, frankly. Last question here, because this has to be asked. And I think it's probably the question

that people are tuning in for. Jed Bishu, who won the press conference? What's the score? Who won the round? 10-9? Did anybody actually win this thing? The fans, Mike. The fans. The fans. Colby won the press conference because Jorge looked awful. And there's no other answer as far as I'm concerned. Colby looked ridiculous and he didn't have a shirt on and he had what I could only assume is either a fake chain that says chaos or a chain that is on loan to him. Because I seriously doubt he bought that if that's real. But he just was himself. Or his character, not himself, certainly.

and that's okay because that's where he is. Jorge's whole thing is being cool, and he was super not cool. Like the reason Jorge became a thing that people liked was three pieces of soda was like a badass thing. And that came with him sauntering up and then John Leon Edwards and walking away with a cool catchphrase. Like he had none of that here. He looked super bad from every aspect of it. And all of it was anathema to the character he is built and convinced. made. So he lost for sure.

Do you agree, Stephen? Do you agree? Is this a 10-9 Covington? Yeah, 10-9 Covington. In the frame that they were in, in this environment on a stage, even a Colby Covington with five catchphrases or five mediocrely written disses beats Jorge, who basically came with a briefcase. and tried to sell. It's an NFT. A non-fungible token. It was a non-fungible token that he'd burnt, thereby personaling it, personalizing it. Apparently he got an offer for $2,000,

so he was making money already. And that was, I guess, you know, his way of monetizing this or trying to monetize this whole thing, if he was going to get into this sort of pissing match It was, he had to monetize it somehow. But, yeah, I think that it was, it was even, even mediocre Colby beats Jorge in this environment, whatever that is, pro wrestling with real punches. That's how he could have won right there.

Like, when Nate Diaz and Connor were back and forth, how much did Nate really come at Conner? So much is he just kind of brushed them off as you didn't really care. It's like, whatever. I'm Nate Diaz. Horace should have spent that whole time in like selling the NFT thing. It would have been a way better use of his time and much more on brand and a way better way to come out of that press conference than making fart noises at Colby or whatever the hell he was doing back to him.

Like use the auctioneer. Oxygener just trying to drive the price up. He should have turned every question. Jorge, do you wish that you guys were still friends and do you feel sad about it? What I feel sad about is I'm going to be parting with this lovely NFT to whoever offers me the most money. And like, that's it. Like that at least is something good and they still get the face off. Instead, he just looked kind of like an asshole.

Well, it's all over. I think we tried to make it all entertaining for you in the end. But these guys are going to face off one more time tomorrow. And you're going to get to see it right here on this very channel, the MMA Fighting YouTube. channel. One more time, Kobe Covington, Jorge Mazadol, Dana White will be up there. I'm sure a lot of the Metro police will be up there. They're going to be sprinting on the stage, getting ready, riot gear on and everything, because they're going to sell this thing and make those photos look tremendous, Jed. That would have been better. If they were up there in riot

gear, I take back everything I said. Give me 12 police in riot gear because then you're really letting everyone in on the joke. Absolutely. So it's going to be a very busy day tomorrow. Of course, Saturday is going to be a very busy day as well. So stay with us here at MAAfighting.com. We get you covered. Jose Young's doing a great job in Las Vegas as we get you ready for UFC 272 Covington versus Mazadol. So that's it. That's our reaction to the press conference for Jed, for Stephen.

Big shout to Casey on the ones and twos. I am Mike Heck. We'll see you tomorrow for Wayans, everybody. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.