Usman Respects Covington (And Vice Versa)

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is rolling out another round of “Embedded” pre-fight video blogs to help fans get amped for the UFC 268 pay-per-view (PPV) event this Sat. night (Nov. 6, 2021) inside Madison Square Garden in New York City.

That’s where reigning welterweight champion Kamaru Usman will defend his belt for a second time against former interim titleholder Colby Covington, and even if “Chaos” doesn’t want to admit it, there is mutual respect between the two veterans.

“We’re going into the second fight with Colby now and I’m expecting the toughest Colby there’s been,” Usman said. “Fighting a guy like Colby, you’d expect a lot of mutual respect because we’ve actually shared that Octagon for almost 25 minutes. He gets kind of a rep for the way that he behaves outside of the cage. I know he respects me, I know he does. He might not wanna show but I know he does. And I’ve a lot of respect for him as well. I think he’s a great competitor, I think he’s very, very tough, but the wisdom that I’ve acquired in this last year alone kind of trumps everything he has done. No pun intended.”

In the UFC 268 co-main event, resurgent strawweight titleholder Rose Namajunas will also face a familiar foe in the form of Zhang Weili. “Thug” stripped “Magnum” of the 115-pound strap by way of thunderous knockout in the UFC 261 co-headliner last April, in what marked the first defeat for Weili since joining the promotion back in summer 2018.

To see the entire UFC 268 fight card and PPV lineup, which also features a lightweight contender’s fight between Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler, click here. For more news and notes on the upcoming “Usman vs. Covington 2” PPV extravaganza click here.