8 burning questions heading into UFC 245 and its three title fights

The UFC’s 2019 pay-per-view schedule ends with a bang Saturday night. Three championships will be on the line at UFC 245. All three matchups feature worthy challengers, and all have the potential to be great fights. 

UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman takes on former interim titleholder Colby Covington in a matchup of competitors with a combined UFC record of 20-1. Featherweight champion Max Holloway is facing his most serious challenger in Australia’s Alexander Volkanovski. And women’s champ-champ Amanda Nunes puts her bantamweight belt on the line in a rematch with former featherweight titleholder Germaine de Randamie. 

Throw in a pair of consequential bantamweight matchups in Marlon Moraes vs. Jose Aldo andPetr Yan vs. Urijah Faber and a smattering of interesting items lower on the card, and it looks like we’re in for one hell of a show Saturday night. 

UFC 245 takes place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.

Will Colby Covington’s fake shtick lead to his realest moment?

Yeah, we know the score by now. You either love Covington (15-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) and his MAGA shtick, or you hate it.

Others who have trash talked their way into getting attention and eventually the big fights, like Conor McGregor and Chael Sonnen, walk a fine line, sometimes crossing it but rarely trampling it. Covington’s banter borders on parody, turning off a whole lot of people, while others like him exactly for what his character represents.

Underlying Covington’s trolling, however, has been one rock-solid fact: He is a tremendous fighter. One who won several fights in a row before gaining any recognition. He’s a world-class MMA wrestler, a cardio freak, and an underrated striker. He’s made fighters as great and stylistically varied as Rafael dos Anjos, Demian Maia, and Robbie Lawler look silly, and did so in consecutive fights.

You don’t have to like Covington. But you’re deluding yourself if you think his phoniness outside the cage has anything with what he does inside the cage. Covington wouldn’t be in this spot if he wasn’t the real deal, and as difficult as it might be for many to swallow, Saturday night could very well be his crowning moment.