Kamaru Usman breaks down the Jorge Masvidal-Colby Covington incident – and who took the 'L'

Kamaru Usman thinks both Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington are at fault after their recent incident.

This past week, Masvidal was taken into custody by Miami-Dade (Fla.) County police after allegedly punching Covington twice in the face outside a restaurant. The “BMF” champion faces one count of aggravated battery resulting in great bodily harm and one count of criminal mischief. He was released on $15,000 bond.

Masvidal’s actions came after he lost a lopsided unanimous decision to former friend, now arch rival Covington (17-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC) at UFC 272 in March. Masvidal (35-16 MMA, 12-9 UFC) didn’t take well to some of the comments Covington made in the lead-up to their fight, prompting him to allegedly jump his bitter rival.

UFC welterweight champion Usman, who has beaten each of them twice, had to deal with Covington’s antics prior to their UFC 268 rematch, in which Covington took aim at Usman’s father. The champion was able to contain himself before and after the fight, something Masvidal found a hard time doing.

“One, it’s unfortunate because it’s taken itself, it’s growing legs now out of just sports to actuality and reality,” Usman said in a recent Instagram live session. “That’s what’s the danger about what you say trying to build a fight or leading up to a fight. You have to watch your mouth. You can’t just run off at the mouth and say what you want or do what you want and expect the opponent to still keep it sport-related.

“Of course some people, i.e like myself, I am just wise enough to understand that you could say whatever you want to say. At the end of the day, I will do my talking with my hands inside once we step in there because that is what I’m there for, is to compete. So you can say and do whatever you want to try and throw me off my competitive edge, which is my mind, but at the end of the day, you can’t. I will go in there and I will still handle business. But in this case, you said a lot of things that crossed the line and some people are not wise enough to not risk it all outside.”

Usman acknowledged Covington is the one that aggravated the situation, but thinks Masvidal handled it incorrectly.

“Now (Masvidal is) facing counts, and now you could potentially go away,” Usman added. “So that’s the unfortunate nature of the situation. I don’t like it. Both guys, I believe, are in the wrong. You can’t just do what you want and say what you want just because you want to sell something, and I feel that’s wrong – very wrong.

“But also, you can’t go as an athlete – as an elite athlete, you’re one of the best athletes in the world – you can’t just go attacking somebody in the street. Yeah, I understand it’s another athlete, but you can’t just do that when it’s outside of competition. So both guys took a big ‘L’ on that one. (I) pray for both, though. (I) hope they’re OK.”

If found guilty, Masvidal could face up to 15 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine for second-degree felony aggravated battery with additional penalties possible from the criminal mischief charge. But for the first-degree felony aggravated battery charge for allegedly concealing his identity by wearing a mask, the potential penalty is as much as 30 years.