Last Saturday, Nate Diaz returned to the octagon after a 3-year layoff. It was a triumphant return for Diaz who stole the show and won a dominant decision over former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis. The win reasserted Diaz in the thick of things in the welterweight division and afterwards, he called out Jorge Masvidal, a fight the fans immediately responded to. It was an interesting callout because Masvidal neither has the belt nor is he next in line for the title. Those honors would belong to Colby Covington, but as Diaz explained after UFC 241, he doesn’t know who that is.

Well, Covington is calling shenanigans on that.

Speaking recently with the TSN MMA Show, the former interim welterweight champion addressed Diaz’s comments, saying he couldn’t care less about Nate Diaz and that Diaz was lying because he’s scared of fighting him.

“I could give a sh*t less about that journeyman Nate Diaz,” Covington said. “He’s another .500 level fighter. He wins one fight for every loss and [is] a guy that sits out three years. Who gives a sh*t about that guy. I’ve steamrolled real men that have rag-dolled that little snowflake. The only thing worse than his lisp and his speech impediment is his wrestling.

“The thing is, nobody every accused Nate Diaz of being smart but avoiding me and not talking about me might be the smartest thing that b*tch-boy’s ever done. He knows exactly who I am. His brother, we were supposed to set up the fight last year at Madison Square Garden until he got cold feet and pulled out last minute. But they know exactly who I am. I’m the king of the f*cking division. I’ve got a belt around my shoulders, something he’ll never see. The only thing he may ever get a belt in is the weed industry but he needs to stop being hooked on weed and get hooked on phonics. That guy is a mental midget.”

Point in fact, Kamaru Usman is currently the king of the welterweight division, but Diaz seemed uninterested in calling out Usman as well. Instead, Diaz waxed poetic at the post-fight press conference, saying the UFC titles were meaningless, wrestling is tantamount to gaming the system, and that he wants to defend the real “baddest motherf*cker in the game” belt (which he currently holds) against the other best fighter right now in Jorge Masvidal. And apparently that suits Covington just fine, who says he’s excited to find out who is the superior journeyman.

“Yeah, you know, it’s a battle of the journeymen,” Covington said. “It’s an exciting fight, the battle of the .500 level fighter. Let’s see, Nate Diaz is 1-1 in the last three years, Jorge Masvidal is 2-2 in the last year or two. So it’s a battle of the journeymen. It’s a battle of the .500 fighters so I’m excited to see who comes out on top.”

Now you might be thinking to yourself, ‘Self, isn’t Jorge Masvidal a training partner and good friend of Colby Covington?’ Yes, yes he is. But this is not the first time Covington has spoken of Masvidal in a less than flattering way. Recently he called Masvidal the Robin to his Batman, and while this may appear to be trending toward an ignominious end to their friendship, Covington assures us that nothing is amiss between the two of them. After all, he’s only stating the truth.

“No, not at all. No trouble in paradise,” Covington said. “Have I said anything that’s a lie? Where’s the lie? I’m saying all truth and facts. If someone gets mad at me for saying facts, then you’re living in denial, you’re living in a delusional world. So there’s no beef. He’s still my best friend. We go way back. You don’t know what me and that guy have been through. We’ve been through so much together so I got nothing but respect and love for him. He’s my brother.

“There’s nothing in my contract that says I have to be nice and there’s nothing in our friendship that says I need to say nice words all the time,” Covington concluded. “We troll each other all the time. He calls me sh*t all the time. He says things to me, maybe it’s not on camera, but we joke around all the time. It’s nothing serious.”

He doesn’t have time to be too concerned though. Covington said he’s targeting a title shot against Usman for the UFC’s return to Madison Square Garden this fall.

“That’s what I’m thinking but we’ll see if Marty Fake Newsman shows up,” Covington said. “That’s what I want, to go fight in Madison Square Garden, the most iconic arena in the world. There’s only one guy that can truly save that arena because the Knicks are screwing everything up. They’re tarnishing the legacy so they need to put Colby Chaos Covington vs. Marty Fake Newsman on the marquee at MSG, November 2nd. We’ll see if the UFC can get it right or if Marty Fake Newsmand keeps faking injuries and ducking me.”

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MUST-READ STORIES

Fight. Jorge Masvidal accepts Nate Diaz’s challenge: ‘It’s a fight that the fans want’.

Vacate. Dana White: Henry Cejudo needs to defend flyweight title next or give up the belt.

Trilogy. Dana White doesn’t want Daniel Cormier to retire, open to booking potential trilogy against Stipe Miocic.

Cancer free. Stipe Miocic received incredible news about his father moments after winning back UFC title.

Classy move. Filipe Esteves wins title in Brazil, donates purse to opponent.

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VIDEO STEW

The A-Side Live Chat.

The Thrill and the Agony.

MMW back and this time it’s on Conor McGregor.

Kang dropping heat.

GSP rolling with Roger.

Free fight.

Ronda on her finger incident.

This is a horrifying story.

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LISTEN UP

Heavy Hands. Breaking down all the action from UFC 241.

Pull No Punches. An interview with Kenny Florian, who has some hot takes.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Ronda with some nice words.

Can’t tell if he’s trolling or hitting on her now.

Kelvin at MSG.

I don’t know what this means.

Good one.

Funny you should mention it Matt...

Wow. Bader really kicked it up a notch at the end there.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Max Griffin (15-6) vs. Alex Morono (16-5, 1 NC); UFC Tampa, Oct. 12.

JJ Aldrich (7-3) vs. Lauren Mueller (5-2); UFC Tampa, Oct. 12.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Thanks for reading and see y’all tomorrow.

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EXIT POLL

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If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let him know about it. Also follow MMAFighting on Instagram, add us on Snapchat at MMA-Fighting, and like us on Facebook.