Colby Covington reveals why he almost pulled out of UFC 245 fight against Kamaru Usman

Colby Covington opened up recently about the pre-fight problems he faced before UFC 245. In what was undoubtedly the biggest fight of his career, he faced his bitter rival Kamaru Usman, and it was an even fight until the final round, where Usman finished Covington in the final minute.

On the scorecards, it seemed even and could have headed for a draw. Either way, Usman closed in on it when needed and retained his Welterweight title. Colby Covington will be out for a while and appeared on the It’s All About Who You Know podcast (H/T BJPENN.com) and said that he almost pulled out of UFC 245 due to food poisoning:

“I’m not making excuses. I haven’t really told anybody, but the UFC was preparing meals for me all fight week, and I ended up getting really sick of one of their meals. I think they didn’t cook the chicken very good, and I got food poisoning two nights before the fight. I puked like 30 times, literally like 30 times.”

He spoke to his manager Dan Lambert, who didn't let him pull out of the fight:

“I told my manager Dan Lambert ‘I’m going to have to pull out of the fight, man,' He’s like ‘no, you can’t pull out man, you’re the main event. You can’t do this to the UFC, you just need to go through with it.’

He said that his lack of strength was the reason why he didn't engage in wrestling during the fight.

“It’s like I was holding back a little bit because I knew I was puking, my liver and intestines were all messed up and I wasn’t at full strength. So what I’m trying to say is I was on my worst day and ‘Marty Fake Newsman’ was on his best day and I still beat him. So you can imagine what’s going to happen in the rematch when I’m at my best and he’s at whatever level he’s at.

There's little doubt that the two will meet again down the road. They established themselves as the two best Welterweights in the world and if Covington racks up a few more wins, a rematch with Usman is inevitable.