Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman have been beefing since 2019. Colby always had his eyes on the strap. At the time of his ascension, Tyron Woodley was the champion of the world. He was coming off multiple title defences and was being compared to George St-Pierre.
GSP is regarded as the greatest welterweight fighter of all time. Hence comparisons with him are regarded as high praises. And Woodley was flying high at moment. He just defeated Darren Till and was facing off against Kamaru Usman. Usman was relatively unknown at the moment.
The history between Covington and Usman
Kamaru Usman got the title shot after beating Rafael Dos Anjos. He was being overlooked as a credible threat against Tyron Woodley. But he had other plans as Usman thoroughly dominated Woodley and won a unanimous decision. The ‘Usman-Covington’ rivalry started from there.
After Usman’s victory against Woodley, Colby Covington started shouting at him and told him that his title was a ‘power rangers’ one and asked Kamaru to fight him. But he was unable to secure the fight. Colby had to fight Robbie Lawler first. He dominated Robbie Lawler and beat him handily.
After that match, Usman and Covington came face to face after the fight in the booth. They shouted insults at each other and got separated by security at the event. Following that, UFC capitalised on the momentum and booked the fight for UFC 245.
The fight was amazing, and UFC president Dana White called it one of the greatest fights he had ever seen. Kamaru Usman won the fight in the 5th round via TKO. But Colby Covington protested the stoppage and ripped the referee Mark Goddard.
The two have gone back and forth since that fight. Kamaru had defended his championship 3 times since the first fight against Covington. He defeated Jorge Masvidal twice and stopped Gilbert Burns. Colby meanwhile, only fought once again Tryon Woodley and won the fight.
‘I have no respect for him: Colby Covington’
The two came face to face once again as they fought in the main event of UFC 268 at Madison Square Garden. The fight lived up to the expectations as the two fought valiantly for 5 rounds. From the first round, it was evident that Usman’s power was going to be a problem for Colby.
Usman dropped Covington twice in the second round and almost knocked him unconscious. But Colby showed his grit and stayed in the fight. He turned it around from the 3rd round and almost took Usman down. The fight did not go his way, but Covington had a lot to say.
In an interview with ‘Submission Radio‘, Covington blasted Kamaru Usman. He spoke about the fight and called him a cheater. Covington also called Usman a drug offender and bashed him for fence grabbing.
In the interview, Colby Covington said, “How can I respect that guy? He’s a cheater. He poked me in the fight, I was clearly poked again. That is the second time he poked me, he grabbed the cage when I was talking him down the second time, that was clearly cheating.”
He further added, “He cheated multiple times in the first fight.” Colby continued, ” I fought clean, I fought hard and never took any breaks.”
“I can’t respect him. It is clear that he is a cheater. It is clear that he does steroids, that’s the best guy in the world, the ‘CEO of EPO’.” said Covington in the interview.