Colby Covington has been suspended for 45 days from fighting after UFC 272, along with Jorge Masvidal.
Brazilian heavyweight Carlos Felipe has been fired by the UFC after yet another anti-doping violation. Felipe tested positive for the steroid Boldenone after his UFC Vegas 40 co-main event loss to former champion Andrei Arlovski last October.
He suffered an 18 month suspension which was revealed by the Nevada Athletic Commission back in January. However, instead of having Felipe sit on the shelf through 2023, the UFC decided to cut him loose in the end.
Felipe’s manager Leonardo Pateira told MMA Fighting the following as well:
“We’ll wait for the suspension to be over so we can compete again, get some wins together and return to the UFC. Because the UFC has indicated that there’s a chance he’ll be called again after one or two wins. The UFC is our only focus, so we’ll do as they say.”
The 27-year-old signed with the UFC back in 2017 but only debuted in the company back in 2020. This is because he tested positive for stanozolol in an out-of-competition sample. He was given a ban of two years by the USADA.
Once he returned, Felipe (11-3) dropped his first UFC fight against Sergey Spivak by majority decision. Three straight wins were had courtesy of Yorgan De Castro, Justin Tafa, and Jake Collier before the defeat against Arlovski.
It was also said that he did not fail the USADA tests for the Arlovski fight, so at the moment this suspension is only from Nevada and not USADA, who had the right to give him four years for a second violation as well.
During a recent edition of the ever-popular ESPN program ‘First Take’, beloved ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith was puzzled by Jorge Masvidal’s approach to his fight against former UFC interim champion – Colby Covington. He weighed in with the following remarks and credit to MMAfighting for the below.
“I saw Masvidal, [he was] gutsy and survived the five rounds, waving Covington on, ‘Come on, let’s get some more, let’s get some more.’ He was literally using two security personnel to lean on because that’s how exhausted he was,” Smith said on First Take. “Covington looked like he was just starting, he was that energized. The guy is in phenomenal shape, he’s an outstanding wrestler, and Masvidal admitted that his wrestling was flat.
Smith would continue:
“How is it this flat coming into it knowing this guy as well as you know him, and knowing what he was going to try and do to you, and how much you supposedly hate him, how were you not ready for a wrestling match? I don’t understand. It’s inexplicable.
