Kamaru Usman says he will run it back with Colby Covington – but when he sees fit.
Covington gave Usman the toughest test of his career when the two fought in December 2019 at UFC 245, but Usman (19-1 MMA, 14-0 UFC) has gone on to flourish since finishing him in the fifth round of their battle. He defended his title another three times, whereas Covington has competed once by stopping former champion Tyron Woodley last September.
Though UFC president Dana White has dubbed Covington the No. 1 contender after Usman knocked out Jorge Masvidal at UFC 261, Usman appears to have other plans. He doesn’t think Covington (16-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC) has earned the right to fight him again, but that doesn’t mean he’s ruling out the rematch down the line.
“I’m not going to say I don’t want to fight,” Usman told ESPN. “I want all the smoke. It doesn’t matter who it is. I want all the smoke. At the end of the day it’s what have you done to earn this. Your claim to fame can’t be, ‘Oh, I went five rounds then the guy broke my jaw and finished me.’ That can’t be your claim to fame. Masvidal went five rounds with me, too. Tyron Woodley went five rounds with me.
“So that can’t be your claim to fame, and you can’t sit around and fight three fights in three years and expect the title shot when I’ve just done three fights in nine months. The champion can’t be the most active guy in the division. I’ve been through the whole division, and now I’m coming back around.”
Usman, who was often labeled as a “boring wrestler,” has shown off his power in three of his past four wins by taking out Covington, Gilbert Burns and most recently becoming the first man to knock out Masvidal in the UFC.
The drama and back-and-forth pre-fight trash talk that has ensued in Usman’s past few fights have brought the best out of him and he has no issue letting that out on Covington – maybe just not right away.
“I understand it’s a fun fight, it’s an incredible fight, and it’s a fight that I like because I went to that place,” Usman said. “I went to that violent place, and I wouldn’t mind going there again. I just went there last week (with Masvidal). So I wouldn’t mind going there again, it just needs to make sense and when it makes sense, absolutely, we can do it.”
Kamaru Usman willing to go ‘a violent place’ with Colby Covington again – ‘when it makes sense’
