Colby Covington Believes He Beat ‘Cheater’ Kamaru Usman, Refuses To Respect Rival

Even after a post-fight embrace, Colby Covington admits he doesn't respect Kamaru Usman.

Colby Covington Ufc 268
Colby Covington Ufc 268

Two battles might have been lost, but Colby Covington’s war with Kamaru Usman is still not over. 

Covington has endured almost 10 full rounds with the reigning champ Usman. He would come up short once again in his sequel against Usman at UFC 268. After nearly being finished in round 2, Covington would pick up steam, almost beating Usman on points in rounds 3-5. He would lose in a somewhat controversial unanimous decision. 

Covington Thinks He Won

While the judges didn’t see it for him, the challenger believes he did enough to win at Madison Square Garden.

“I’m definitely not proud of my performance,” Covington said at the post-fight presser. “I should have won that. It was laser thin again. I honestly thought I had it 3-2. It was very close. He clipped me, I clipped him a couple times. Whatever media reporter in here said I went for 11 takedowns and had unsuccessful attempts, fake news. Do real journalism. That’s why you guys are journalists. You don’t have journalism degrees cause you put this fake news out. I obviously took him down so I broke that stat so you can’t hype him up anymore and say he’s never been taken down cause I took him down.

“I think we have unfinished business. I’ll give five more rounds out in the parking lot right now. I’m serious about that. I will see him again. I’m not done with him.”

While ‘Chaos’ isn’t done with Usman, a trilogy will have to wait until Covington creates another title case.

After the firefight, the heated rivals watered it down with sportsmanship. Having gone the distance over 5 rounds, Usman and Covington finally embraced for a brief moment. The tensions were still high but bad blood was let go for just a second in time as Usman and Covington talked to each other and patted one another. 

No Respect

Covington’s energy from the scene would be left inside the Octagon, nowhere to be found at the post-fight press conference. 

“He’s a cheating coward,” Covington said about Usman. “I have no respect for that guy. He’s obviously a cheater. He’s cheated in multiple fights. He was holding my glove tonight against the cage. In the first round I went for a takedown and he went bam, bam, twice to the back of the head. I think Dan Miragliotta’s one of the top three best refs in the game, I told him before the fight, do not let this guy hit me in the back of the head and he did. If you go back and look at the footage, clearly in the back of the head.

“When you hit somebody in the back of the head, it definitely dazes you real quick. That caught me off guard and just more tactics of him cheating. You’ll never see me cheating or trying to cheat. That unfair shake again. I still think I got the job done but I promise you haven’t seen the last of me.”

On Second Thought…

Covington would revisit his small post-fight exchange with Usman in another question. He would say there was actually an ounce of respect for Usman, but not much. 

“There was a little bit of respect for each other, even though he cut corners and I’ve never had to cut corners in my career,” Covington said about Usman. “I came here the long way. I earned this, blood, sweat and tears the long way. Never cheated, never cut comers.

“I’m just a blue collar kid from Thurston, Oregon, in these big fights. If that’s the pound-for-pound No. 1 fighter in the world, I just put on two epic fights with him, beat him in multiple rounds. So where does that put me? Why am I not in the pound-for-pound rankings? Oh yeah, I forgot, everybody hates me.”

What are your thoughts on how Colby Covington is taking the loss?

Published on November 7, 2021 at 3:36 pm
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