Ben Askren Believes Colby Covington Should Have Got Title Shot Ahead of Jorge Masvidal

Published 03/27/2021, 5:40 AM EDT

UFC 261 will see the return of fans to the UFC arenas, and the event will feature three title fights. The main event will see Jorge Masvidal fight Kamaru Usman in a welterweight title match for the second time. However, Masvidal’s former opponent believes it was Colby Covington, who deserved the shot more than his former teammate.

Speaking to Helen Yee recently, ‘Funky’ shared his view on the situation. “So I didn’t like that booking, actually. Well, I didn’t. I said this also, and I got a lot of pushback. And It was really surprising to me, and it will to me, or to the scorecards. That was a 50-43 fight. Right? Jorge won no rounds, he won zero, and he lost 10-8, two of them,” said Askren.

“And you had Colby versus Usman, which was it was two to two going into the fifth round. Colby ended up getting knocked out, but it was really competitive. Colby has won a fight since then. Jorge has not, right,” he added.

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“And so it’s like, I listen. And obviously, there could be some stuff behind the scenes that I’m not seeing because that’s not my job. That is preventing Colby from getting another shot. And well, nobody likes Colby. So you know, like no fans like oh! sh*t. We want to Colby get the shot because nobody actually likes him. But even me, who doesn’t like him, thinks like, well, that probably would have made a lot more sense.”

Did Colby Covington deserve the title shot more than Jorge Masvidal?

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‘Chaos’ fought ‘The Nigerian Nightmare‘ at UFC 245 and had a very competitive contest until getting knocked out in the final round of the fight. He has since defeated former champion, Tyron Woodley. Masvidal lost to Usman at UFC 251 on 6 days’ notice and has remained inactive since his Fight Island adventure.

However, ‘Gamebred‘s superstar status, and the fact that he did the promotion a favor last term by stepping up on such short notice, might have played a factor in the UFC’s decision to grant him the rematch ahead of the higher-ranked Covington.

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Regardless, both Usman and Masvidal are great fighters and fans will have a great fight on their hands. Furthermore, there is no doubt Covington will get his shot again as he continues to reside in the upper echelon of the welterweight division.

What did you make of Ben Askren‘s comments? Let us know.

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Apratim Banerjee is an MMA author for EssentiallySports and has been writing professionally for almost a year. Before his current gig, Apratim worked as a UFC writer for Sportskeeda. A long-time MMA fan, Apratim has developed a critical eye for the sport that has helped him transfer his vast knowledge to his copies and give hardcore and casual readers a detailed insight into the fights and fighters.

Ben Askren Believes Colby Covington Should Have Got Title Shot Ahead of Jorge Masvidal

Did Colby Covington deserve the title shot more than Jorge Masvidal?

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