Perhaps more so than anything else this year, 2019 will be remembered as the year of Ben Askren and Jorge Masvidal. The two had remarkable and noteworthy years, albeit for very different reasons, and both were highlighted (or lowlighted in the case of Askren) by their matchup against each other at UFC 239. After months of trash talk, when the cage doors were finally closed, Masvidal knocked out Askren with a flying knee five seconds into the bout (a new UFC record) and delivered a couple of follow up punches that most felt were excessive but Masvidal deemed “super necessary”. Even after the bout, Masvidal kept up his trash talk and it seemed like the two would never have a good relationship but that was before UFC 245 took place.

As the old saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and both Askren and Masvidal have been highly vocal about their dislike of Colby Covington and, to a much lesser extent, about welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. So when Usman knocked out Covington on Saturday at UFC 245, Askren was quick to respond to the outcome, even paying Masvidal a compliment.

Askren may well get his wish. After all, Masvidal would appear to be next in line to challenge Usman, however, at the moment “Gamebred” seems less interested in that and more interested in rubbing Covington’s nose in it.

Masvidal and Covington used to be good friends, training together out of American Top Team. But in recent years the friendship crumbled and the two have turned into bitter rivals. Had Covington won at UFC 245, a bout with Masvidal would’ve been a huge event for the UFC. Of course, that didn’t happen and, in the aftermath of his loss, Covington took to lambasting referee Marc Goddard for the stoppage and his refereeing, saying he was robbed. That’s when Masvidal returned the compliment Askren paid to him earlier, give him props for the way Askren handled his loss, by staring it in the face and accepting it,

Askren then responded directly to Masvidal and suddenly, there’s mutual respect between these two once-bitter rivals.

Colby Covington, uniter of people.

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Results. Two champions retained their titles plus a new one was crowned at UFC 245.

Ouch. Colby Covington suffers broken jaw at UFC 245, rips referee Marc Goddard for ‘fake’ stoppage.

Next. Kamaru Usman says Leon Edwards ‘deserving’ of title shot, but Jorge Masvidal could be next.

Not a good idea. Amanda Nunes sends warning to boxing champ Claressa Shields: ‘I’m gonna wrestle the s*it out of you’.

Blessed. Max Holloway disagrees with judges’ decision at UFC 245: ‘They made me cry twice in 2019’.

Rematch. Alexander Volkanovski believes Max Holloway deserves rematch.

Legend. Dana White: Henry Cejudo wants to fight Jose Aldo next.

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UFC 245 post-fight show.

UFC 245 post-fight presser.

UFC 246 promo. It’s pretty good.

UFC 245 backstage interviews.

Bellator Countdown.

Kamaru beating up Colby.

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6th Round. Immediate post-fight reaction to UFC 245.

Severe MMA. Discussing UFC 245 in-depth, including the title fights, the judging, and the refs.

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Colby being Colby.

Kinda sounds like Goddard agrees the stoppage was a touch early?

What does it all mean?

Handling the loss well.

Cejudo being Cejudo.

Defend or vacate.

Patricio throwing shade.

Mike Perry knows how to take a loss.

Petr Yan is ruthless.

Jimi Manuwa want to come back it seems.

A longer promo for Cowboy-Conor.

Overeem.

Izzy’s shirt is fire.

Anthony Martin dropped a lot of money on Colby. . .

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N/A.

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Well UFC 245 had big expectations and it definitely delivered. Some tremendous fights, some great knockouts, and even a little bit of controversy. That’s about all you can ask for in a fight card and it’s a great way to end 2019 (UFC Busan does not count as no one will watch it).

Thanks for reading and see y’all tomorrow.

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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.