One year ago today Kamaru Usman defended his belt for the fifth time by beating Colby Covington in a rematch

On this day in 2021, Kamaru Usman was set to defend his welterweight title for the second time against Colby Covington. This was Usman's fifth title defense at the time. He was able to emerge victorious by unanimous decision, defeating the top welterweight contender in a five-round affair.

#UFC268 Official Scorecard: Kamaru Usman vs Colby Covington

See every scorecard from #UFC268 ➡️: ufc.com/news/official-… https://t.co/ASal6XKvvK

'The Nigerian Nightmare' was dominant in the first two rounds. The pound-for-pound king at the time was able to outstrike Covington while also landing a takedown in the first round. He followed that up with a very strong second round, where he doubled his opponents' output while also scoring two knockdowns. Many felt that the second round could have been a 10-8 round for the former champion.

While Covington was much better over the final three rounds, he simply did not do enough to get back into the fight. He was only able to outstrike Usman in one of the three rounds while failing in eight takedown attempts. Overall for the fight, Covington was 0-11 in takedowns, while Usman was 1-1. Additionally, Usman outstruck Covington in four of the five rounds.

Usman v Covington #UFC268 fight stats... Close but Usman won fair and square. He out struck Colby in 4 rounds and landed more significant strikes, plus two knockdowns. https://t.co/Lwzxyxff7T

Kamaru Usman was able to win the bout via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, and 49-46) to retain his welterweight title. It was his last title defense, as his 19-fight winning streak came to an end in his next fight against Leon Edwards.

Nov6.2021

1 year ago today,

Kamaru Usman earned the final victory of his legendary winning streak.

Usman became an all-time great with this streak:

- 19 fight, 8-year winning streak
- Became the UFC Welterweight Champion
- Defended his title 5x
- Fought the best of 170 https://t.co/kiuy3RAe7d

Kamaru Usman looks to regain welterweight title in early 2023

Kamaru Usman's 19-fight win streak came to a halt when he was knocked out with a vicious head kick from Leon Edwards at UFC 278. The knockout came with less than a minute remaining in the fifth and final round after Usman had controlled much of the first 24 minutes. It also marked the first loss of his UFC career after winning his first 15 fights. Now the top-ranked welterweight contender, Usman is looking to reclaim his title in early 2023.

#UFC278 Official Scorecard: Kamaru Usman vs Leon Edwards (@Leon_EdwardsMMA)

View All Official Scorecards: ufc.com/news/official-… https://t.co/9NsMFAwLIC

Speaking to TMZ Sports, Usman stated:

"I'll go grab that back probably top of next year, I think we'll make that happen. Of course, like I said that night after it happened, I would love to go to England and do this in England. I got a lot of fans in England. A lot of my Africans, a lot of my Jamaican fans in England so I think it only makes sense... I think I have more fans in England than he does."

According to UFC President Dana White, the trilogy is expected to headline the UFC's next trip to London.

Watch Kamaru Usman's comments below (starting at the 1:00 mark):