“He’ll tune up a lot of guys in the division,” Kamaru Usman praises Colby Covington as the second-best guy in the division after UFC 268


“He’ll tune up a lot of guys in the division,” Kamaru Usman praises Colby Covington as the second-best guy in the division after UFC 268

Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington

The two giants of the UFC Welterweight division, former interim Welterweight champion, Colby Covington and UFC Welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman produced a show for the fight fans around the world at the main event of UFC 268.

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These two arch-nemeses of the sport went toe to toe against each other for five rounds and in the end, Usman won the fight by unanimous decision of the judges. Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington are never going to be friends but for a brief moment, they displayed mutual respect towards each other as soon as the fight ended.

Covington and Usman came face to face just as the horn sounds and exchanged few words between each other. They also embraced each other and shook hands, but in the post-fight press conference, ‘Chaos’ came back in his old form and called Kamaru Usman cheater.

Although the champ wasn’t surprised by Covington showing him respect, talking about that moment in the post-fight press conference of UFC 268, Usman says, “I’m not surprised, we’ve shared pretty much an hour with each other inside that cage.”

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“I don’t care who you are, there’s a mutual respect that just comes alive. It’s the spirit of competition. The spirit of martial arts. It’s just two competitors. We went to war. We spent almost an hour together inside that cage. I’ll leave what was said between me and him.” {H/t MMA Fighting}

Kamaru Usman is open to facing Colby Covington third time down the road

Kamaru Usman UFC 268
Kamaru Usman UFC 268

This was Usman’s third appearance inside the Octagon this year and in the previous two appearances he ended the fight, but this time the fight went throughout the distance as Colby Covington gave him real tough competition.

Kamaru Usman added, “This guy’s tough as nails. This guy’s very, very tough. Let’s be honest, Ali needed a Frazier. All these guys, you can be the great one but there’s always going to be that one guy that’s going to be able to push you and he is that guy.”

“As much of him outside the octagon that most people don’t like, myself included, you have to respect him as a competitor.”

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Now Usman leads his series with Covington by 2-0 and ‘Chaos’ expressed his intention to earn his way back for the title shot and face him once again in the post-fight press conference. ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ also claimed that he is not going to be surprised if this happens.

Kamaru Usman concluded, “That guy’s tough, He’ll tune up a lot of guys in the division. We’ll see. It’s up to him. If he’s willing to do the work and get back up here and if I’m still here, then we’ll make it happen.” {H/t MMA Fighting}

Also Read: “He was holding my glove tonight against the cage,” Colby Covington shows no respect towards ‘coward’ Kamaru Usman at UFC 268 press conference.