MMA Weekly
Dana White: Kamaru Usman will fight Colby Covington next
UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman made the fourth consecutive defense of his title at UFC 261 on Saturday night. Only moments removed from the fight, UFC president Dana White reiterated that Colby Covington would be next for the champ. Usman’s win over Jorge Masvidal at UFC 261 was a rematch. Now, he’s tasked with another rematch in Covington. “The fight between him and Colby Covington is one of the greatest fights I’ve ever seen. Those two stood in there toe to toe, blasting each until Colby went down with a broken jaw,” White said at the UFC 261 post-fight press conference. “The clear cut guy right now [for Usman] is Colby. We’ll see how all these other things play out for the next contender, but there’s no doubt that Colby Covington is the next guy.” Covington was in attendance at UFC 261, never wasting a moment to put Usman down and calling Masvidal a “journeyman,” discounting him as a worthy challenger. And though he lost to Usman in their first fight, Covington discredited Usman’s victory over him too. “I’m going to take him down into deep waters. I’m going to take him down and I’m going to finish him. There are no more fake nut shots next time,” said Covington. “I have new coaches now. I have a new team behind me. Before, there was so much drama at my old gym. People were screaming at me. I couldn’t get my training time in,” he continued. “What has to go different is I have to put a higher pace on him next time. I didn’t put enough pace on him last time and just keep my hands up. I know I’m going to get my hand raised when I fight him.†For his part, Usman wasn’t quick to jump at a rematch with Covington or any other fight when prodded at the post-fight press conference. His lone commitment was to spending some quality time with his daughter, whom he was away from for several weeks to train for the Masvidal fight. Dana White tweets video of Chris Weidman’s fight-ending leg snap Dana White: Kamaru Usman is one of the greatest ever (Subscribe to MMAWeekly.com on YouTube)
