Colby Covington reveals chances of trilogy fight with 'coward' Kamaru Usman if he captures welterweight title at UFC 268
Colby Covington has opened up on the possibility of him facing Kamaru Usman for the third time if he wins their upcoming rematch. ‘Chaos’ asserted that he’d be more than willing to fight Usman in a trilogy bout after beating him in their second fight.
The first fight between Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman ended with ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ successfully defending his UFC welterweight title by defeating Covington via fifth-round TKO. This fight transpired at UFC 245 back in December 2019. The arch-rivals are set to clash in a rematch this Saturday at UFC 268.
Ahead of their highly anticipated rematch, Colby Covington spoke to Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole. During the interview, Iole asked Covington to shed light upon his future plans. He questioned ‘Chaos’ whether he’d consider fighting Kamaru Usman again after their UFC 268 rematch. Covington responded by stating:
“You know, I’m not going to be a coward like Marty (Kamaru Usman) and run from this rematch. He should’ve fought me and re-matched me right away. The first time we fought, there was unfinished business. The people, the fans saw for themselves how close that fight was. And that fight needed to be run back right away. But he refused it, you know, he ran away. He didn’t want a rematch."
"But, you know what, I’m not going to be a coward. I’m going to give the people what they want. If they want this trilogy with me and Marty, you know, I’ll do it right away. But the thing is, Kevin, after I finish him next week, he’s not going to want to come back. It’s going to be a life-changing defeat. He’s not going to be wanting to come back for the trilogy. He’s probably going to retire.”
You can watch Colby Covington’s conversation with Kevin Iole in the video below:
Can Colby Covington become the first fighter to defeat Kamaru Usman in the UFC?
Reigning UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman holds a professional MMA record of 19 wins and 1 loss. ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ suffered a submission loss early in his career before he joined the UFC, and hasn’t tasted defeat since.
Kamaru Usman is unbeaten in the UFC and looks to continue his reign of dominance as the promotion’s 170-pound kingpin. That said, many believe that Colby Covington poses the biggest stylistic threat to Usman.
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Should ‘Chaos’ beat the champion at UFC 268, he’d become the first fighter to defeat the pound-for-pound No. 1 great inside the UFC octagon. The Usman-Covington rematch is scheduled to take place at UFC 268 on November 6th. If the fight possesses even a fraction of the excitement the first bout brought, then fans will be in for a spectacular treat.