Colby Covington made a claim that the only reason Kamaru Usman is fighting him for a second time is because the UFC threatened to strip the champ of his title. However Kamaru says that this is a statement with no basis in facts.
Since the first time Usman and Covington fought, Colby has been trying to get a second crack at the title. Two years and just a single fight later, he is getting his wish, although he made the claim that the only reason for this is because the UFC threatened to strip Kamaru of his title if he did not accept the fight.
However speaking in an interview with Daniel Cormier, the welterweight champ completely denied this allegation. He said that considering how active he has been, the UFC would never consider stripping him.
“How they gonna take the belt? I think I’m the only champ who fought two times already this year. I’m not sure, but I believe I’m the only champ. It’s gonna be three in a calendar year, what champ’s really doing that?” Usman said.
“I chose to take this fight because… there’s something you feel when you get into a certain fight to where you lose yourself in the fight, that you’re just having fun. And there was something in that fight to where I was having fun. I’m smiling… I was never tired at all. I’m smiling, I’m laughing at him, I’m talking to him. I’m calling him, ‘Quit trying to be a b—ch, quit crying,’ I’m talking to him in there, the whole time, and there was something that when I got done with it, I was like ‘Wow, that was fun.'”
Kamaru Usman Has No Beef
The first time Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington fought, there was serious bad blood between the two. However this time around, it seems to only be on the side of Colby, with Kamaru actually showing his rival some respect.
Kamaru explained that at this point in his career, he is not taking things personally, and is just looking to fight and get paid. The only reason he is taking this second fight with Colby, is because he knows that this was his most competitive fight to date.
“It’s less (personal) for me because you get to a certain point… where you’re competing. We know what we compete for. We want to get the bag and go home, and go be with our kids. That’s what we want. We get to that point, but he’s still chasing that. He’s chasing that feeling that we get now, because we have become champ and we defend it. We are known worldwide as the man, and that’s the feeling he is still chasing and he will never feel, as long as I am in the way… That jackass would say anything, and that’s where he’s at now,” Usman said.
“He seems to be that guy that’s talking up a good game, that is good enough to try to push me there again. So I want to see it.”
Why Not Leon Edwards?
There was some debate about whether or not Colby Covington was the rightful contender for Kamaru Usman. The other option was Leon Edwards, who is undefeated in his last ten fights and is fresh off of a win over Nate Diaz.
Kamaru explained that the reason he did not go with Leon is because of the fact that Nate was able to rock him in the last minute of their fight. If Leon had finished Nate, the champ says he would have possibly faced off with him again.
“Someone has to keep it real with this guy. At the end of the day, we know this is a business, it’s a partnership between us and the promotion. It’s a partnership. You’ve got to give them something to sell, and they are giving you bone after bone after bone. Let’s just be honest, based on that last performance, you can’t go out there and do that with Nate Diaz. You can’t do that,” Usman said.
“You’ve got to seal the deal… That was an audition. You have to audition. These are my sons, you have to audition for me now. You audition for me and then I will decide if you are that guy. Myself and the promotion will sit down and we’ll say ‘I like his audition tape, let’s go ahead and pick him next.’ He went out there and he was auditioning for a while, he did okay, but then all of a sudden, the 25th minute, you s—t the bed. You can’t do that.”
Kamaru Usman will face Colby Covington in the main event of UFC 268, on November 6th. This massive rematch will headline an even bigger card
