When UFC champion Kamaru Usman left Colby Covington with a broken jaw as retribution for excessive smack-talk
If Colby Covington is known for his trash-talking prowess, Kamaru Usman is an expert in taking such trash-talkers out.
Leading up to their UFC 245 clash, Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington engaged in a heated back-and-forth exchange, with Covington expectedly doing most of the talking. Things got ugly when Covington questioned Kamaru Usman's Nigerian heritage and also doubted how "American" the welterweight champion was.
In an interview with MMA Fighting, Colby Covington even went ahead and said that Kamaru Usman did not have the power to knock him out.
"Marty doesn’t have any punching power. He doesn’t have one-punch KO power. He’s KO’d maybe one guy in 16 fights, and that guy was a jobber," said Colby 'Chaos' Covington.
However, after what happened at the UFC 245 main event, the brash welterweight had to eat his words. Usman knocked Covington out with punches at 4:10 minutes of the fifth round.
In reality, however, Colby Covington was in no condition to eat anything. Kamaru Usman broke his jaw sometime in the third round with a big right. Covington could be heard saying to his corner that he thought he had broken his jaw.
Fans and MMA experts on social media found the exciting finish to the much-hyped fight to be a 'poetic justice', as Kamaru Usman did exactly what Covington said he could not - knock him out cold.
Here's a quick look at the knockout.
Kamaru Usman: I wanted to make him pay
Colby Covington said a lot of things going into the fight that he really did not need to, and as a result, faced a more fired-up Kamaru Usman than usual. Typically, one to resort to wrestling and takedowns, Usman completely diverged from his trusted weapons at UFC 245 to answer Covington's jabs and disses with his own punches.
Kamaru Usman made a statement with his striking during the bout and said in an interview later on that he was planning on taking Covington's "head off" inside the Octagon.
"I was going in there just trying to take his head off. This was a bona fide mano-a-mano fight. He said a lot of things and I wanted to make him pay. I said all week I was gonna punish him for four and a half rounds, and then I was gonna get him out of there. That's exactly what I did," said Usman.
After the fight, Usman dedicated the win to his late nephew, who had passed away in a tragic drowning accident.
Watch the full fight between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington at UFC 245 below: