"De Niro, Stallone, Ed Norton cannot act this well" - Chael Sonnen on whether Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington's beef is real or manufactured

Chael Sonnen believes the beef between Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington is as real as it gets.

The former friends-turned-bitter rivals are set to collide in the main event of this weekend's UFC 272 pay-per-view. The card will take place on March 5 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ahead of the fight, there have been some in the MMA community suggesting that the beef between Masvidal and Covington has been manufactured or faked in order to sell more pay-per-views. While some may think that way, Sonnen is definitely not buying into the theory.

According to Sonnen, the bad blood between Masvidal and Covington is completely real.

Pointing to the recent heated debate between Masvidal and Covington during an interview with Stephen A. Smith, Sonnen explained that even legendary actors like Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone couldn't pretend to have so much hatred towards each other.

In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Sonnen said:

"These guys are hot and if you ever want to wonder if a grudge is real or if a grudge is being manufactured, my god, [Robert] De Niro, [Sylvester] Stallone, Ed[ward] Norton cannot act as well, Denzel [Washington] himself, they cannot act as well... They're pi**ed, they're just red hot going at each other. Even Stephen A. Smith's [like] 'Oh my god, they got heat over here that's going to melt the airwaves.'"

Check out Chael Sonnen's full video below:

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Chael Sonnen explains why fight fans should appreciate Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal

Chael Sonnen believes both Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington deserve to be appreciated for the fact that they are headlining a pay-per-view as a non-title fight despite having lost their last outings inside the octagon. The pair both fell to losses at the hands of reigning welterweight champ Kamaru Usman in 2021.

Sonnen praised both 'Gamebred' and 'Chaos' for their ability to market the fight as well as sell pay-per-views, despite not being on a great run of form lately.

"One thing they have in common is they both lost their last fight. Show me another guy who lost a fight and returns to pay-per-view. Two of them did it in this case. There's a step ahead, there's a game, study it, learn it, manipulate it and when all said and done, as it pertains to Covington and Masvidal, appreciate it."