"I can't respect him, he's a cheater" - Colby Covington explains why he doesn't respect Kamaru Usman despite sharing the octagon with him twice
Colby Covington suffered another loss against UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman in their highly-anticipated rematch at UFC 268. Covington and Usman went to war in a thrilling five-round slugfest that showed great skill and heart from both fighters.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ retained the title with a unanimous-decision win over Covington to further cement his status atop the UFC's pound-for-pound rankings. However, 'Chaos' wasn't convinced by Usman's performance in the fight. In a recent interview with Submission Radio, Colby Covington explained why he doesn't respect Usman and also accused him of cheating in their second fight. The former UFC interim welterweight champion said:
"I can't respect that guy. How can I respect a cheater? He poked me in the fight, I was clearly poked again. That's the second time he has poked me. He grabbed the cage when I was taking him down the second time. He was grabbing the fence and that's clearly cheating. He cheated multiple times in the first fight. When did I ever cheat? Not one time did I cheat or do anything wrong in both the fights. I fought clean, I fought hard, and never took any breaks. I can't respect him. He's a cheater."
Watch Colby Covington's full interview with Submission Radio below:
Colby Covington takes a dig at Kamaru Usman's pound-for-pound status
After blasting Usman for cheating during their latest UFC 268 encounter, Colby Covington went off on the 170-pound king for taking steroids. He also mocked Usman's pound-for-pound status in the UFC:
"It's clear that he [Usman] does steroids. That is what we get. That's the best guy in the world - the CEO of EPO. He's the supposed pound-for-pound chemical fighter of the year."
After an all-out brawl between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington at UFC 268, the show of sportsmanship led many to believe that they had finally buried the hatchet. However, that doesn't appear to be the case at all. Covington is now angling for a trilogy fight with his arch-rival:
"We fought two times. After 10 rounds, at the worst, I'm down six rounds to four. So, I think there needs to be another fight. There needs to be another trilogy, if he stays around, if he wants to stay around."