Jan. 11 (UPI) -- A welterweight grudge match between former friends Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington will headline UFC 272 in early March.
Hunter Campbell, the UFC's chief business officer, told ESPN on Tuesday that contracts for the bout have yet to be signed for the 170-pound matchup, but the fight is almost finalized. The UFC 272 pay-per-view event is scheduled to take place March 5 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The match between Masvidal and Covington will be a five-round, non-title bout.
The UFC initially targeted featherweight and bantamweight title bouts for the March event, according to ESPN. However, those fights are no longer on that card -- partly due to an injury to featherweight challenger Max Holloway.
Masvidal (35-15) is one of the UFC's most popular fighters, though he hasn't stepped foot in the octagon since suffering a knockout loss to welterweight champion Kamaru Usman in a title fight last April at UFC 261.
Masvidal's last two fights have come against Usman, who earned a unanimous decision victory over Masvidal in July 2020.
Covington (16-3) also is coming off a title loss against Usman at UFC 268 in November. The 33-year-old Covington has two losses to Usman in his past three fights, with Covington's most recent win coming against Tyron Woodley in September 2020.
Masvidal and Covington trained together at American Top Team in South Florida, and the pair even lived together at one point. The fighters had a falling out in 2018, and Covington switched from ATT to MMA Masters in 2020.
