MIAMI – Colby Covington is admittedly frustrated waiting for a rematch with UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman to materialize.
Covington (16-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC) lost by fifth-round TKO to Usman (19-1 MMA, 14-0 UFC) in their first meeting at UFC 245 in December 2019, and he’s since been campaigning for a rematch ever since.
Following Usman’s most recent title defense against Jorge Masvidal in April, UFC president Dana White said that Covington was unequivocally the top contender at 170 pounds and the rematch would be next. Usman and his team have been resistant to the idea, though, and said they want Covington – who holds a win over Tyron Woodley in his lone fight since UFC 245 – to show something by being more active.
Covington said he’s not buying that narrative, however. “Chaos” is adamant he’s next for the title shot and is confident no one is going to step ahead of him.
“I’m the No. 1 contender,” Covington told MMA Junkie. “There’s a No. 1 next to my name (in the UFC rankings). I’m going to fight for a world title my next fight, whether it’s going to be Marty, where it’s going to be – we don’t know where, we don’t know who yet, but we will fight for the world title next. Marty’s out there, the CEO of EPO, he doesn’t want to fight. He wants to fight lightweights. He probably wants a trilogy with Masvidal. Last time it was six days, now it’s six weeks, now he probably wants to give Masvidal six months. So he’s only looking to fight lightweights. He wants Michael Chiesa, a guy who is No. 7 in the rankings that was just getting beat by (Anthony) Pettis like a year ago; now he’s not even in the UFC no more. So, it’s a complete joke.
“He needs to come see me. This is a fight the fans want to see and if he doesn’t want to fight me and he’s going to run off into the sunset because he’s scared I’m going to take his health, then that’s OK. But I’m still fighting for the world title my next fight, so we’re going to prepare as if we’re fighting for the world title next.”
Covington said he hasn’t received much in the way of communication from the UFC brass or his management about a timeline for the rematch. He would be interested in fighting at Madison Square Garden in New York if the promotion returns there for its traditional November card, but ideally he would like it to happen sooner.
It’s a waiting game, and although there’s some irritation that comes with that, Covington said there’s no other fight that makes sense for Usman and thinks it’s a bad look that he’s delaying the bout.
Ultimately, though, Covington is optimistic the champion will be cornered into taking the rematch.
“It’s frustrating,” Covington said. “He’s trying to avoid me at all costs. He knows I’m the toughest fight for him, and he knows he got lucky last time. … They’re definitely going to have to force his hand. He’s asking for a crazy amount of money to fight me again, so right now he’s just tainting his legacy. The fans are seeing the true side of him. He doesn’t want to fight the true next challenger, the No. 1 guy with the No. 1 next to his name, the guy that gave you the toughest fight of his career, that beat you in multiple rounds. I had minimum two or three rounds up before the early stoppage. I was in the fight. I wasn’t out unconscious. I stood right up, and he landed shots to the back of my head. I can’t believe no one talks about that either.
“He’s just reaffirming to the fans that he’s not the best welterweight. He’s not this GOAT or No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter. If he was, he would want to fight a guy where there’s still a lot of drama to be finished. There’s a lot of unfinished business. The ending to that last fight, you shouldn’t want to win like that. That’s not a real winner. He’s making this fake narrative that he broke my jaw (when he didn’t).”
Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington before UFC 245.
If and when Covington does get the fight, he said it’ll be a different story than the first time, which was highly competitive but ended in the final round. Covington has repeatedly stated he thinks the bout was unfairly officiated by referee Marc Goddard.
Covington said he just wants a fair shake against his rival, and he thinks he can beat Usman without controversy. Usman has put together a strong run as champion with four title defenses, but Covington hasn’t been impressed and wants to show that “The Nigerian Nightmare” is far from unbeatable.
“I see the same fighter,” Covington said. “He beat a lightweight in (Gilbert) Burns. He dropped him with a jab. He’s a washed-up lightweight. He shouldn’t even be in welterweight. They kind of hand picked him because they knew it was going to line his pockets up, and his manager Ali’s pockets. He’s a lightweight. Masvidal’s a lightweight, and now he’s calling for another lightweight in Chiesa. I’m not impressed with the way he beat Masvidal. I know the lifestyle Masvidal lives every day. That guy’s not in the gym training hard. That guy’s not making the sacrifices it takes every day to be a champion. That guy’s out in the club doing drugs, cheating on his wife, being a piece of sh*t father to his kids. I knew it was just a matter of time until he was going to fall from grace and get knocked out viciously.
“Marty was just the right time, right place, and he had him thinking he was going to take him down, and he faked the takedown and came up and hit him with a big shot because Masvidal has his hands down. It’s a different fight with me. He knows he can’t take me down. He knows he can’t get me to fake and bite on takedown attempts. I’m going to be in his face and pressure him, and I’m going to make it the toughest fight of his life. He’s already been in there once, and he knows the deep waters I can go to and the levels I can push him to. He’s trying to avoid me at all costs, but there’s no denying this. This is the fight to make, this is the fight the people want, and you can’t deny the people what they want in this sport.”
Colby Covington: ‘CEO of EPO’ Kamaru Usman ‘tainting his legacy’ by avoiding rematch
