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UFC superstar Nate Diaz is coming off a loss to Leon Edwards at UFC 263, but that apparently hasn’t kept the American off of UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman’s radar. About two days after Diaz and Usman went back and forth at each other via social media about a potential megafight, Usman’s manager Ali Abdelaziz picked Diaz over Colby Covington on social media, presumedly to be Usman’s next opponent. He posted, “Nate over Colby all day”.
Top-ranked welterweight contender Covington must have seen that post, because “Chaos” posted a video a few hours later on the same day that appears aimed at goading Usman into fighting him next.
You can watch that video below.
In the video, a woman asks Google via her phone, “…Who is the CEO or EPO?”
Google responds with a summary of Internet articles that reported Covington’s claim that “Marty Juiceman is the CEO of EPO”. The video then pans over to show Covington smiling and shrugging his shoulders.
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Covington Probably Next For Usman
UFC president Dana White has consistently stated to the media that Covington would be next for Usman. The two rivals fought each other at UFC 245 in December 2019, and Usman stopped Covington in the fifth round.
However, Covington claimed after the fight that referee Marc Goddard made some calls at UFC 245 that only benefited Usman, so the brash star has repeatedly expressed that he expects to win the rematch.
But Diaz recently came into the conversation after the 36-year-old American surprisingly blasted Usman via social media.
Usman responded that Diaz should call UFC matchmaker Hunter Campbell, and that has been interpreted by most to mean that Usman would be down to fight Diaz next if that’s something Diaz really wants.
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Diaz Makes Dollars, But He Doesn’t Make Sense
Of course, Diaz is coming off two straight losses, so he doesn’t actually figure to be a reasonable next fight for Usman no matter what either of those two superstars wants to happen.
Sure, Diaz is one of the most popular stars in the sport, but he was handled by Leon Edwards at UFC 263 for four out of the five total rounds, and he was stopped in the third round by Jorge Masvidal at UFC 244 in November 2019.
So it doesn’t make sense for Diaz to jump the line in the UFC’s stacked 170-pound division. He shouldn’t get the nod over Covington according to the UFC’s own rankings that list the 33-year-old as the division’s No. 1 contender.
It doesn’t make sense for him to get a title shot over Edwards either since the 29-year-old UK star just beat Diaz and is riding his own 10-fight unbeaten streak.
And what about Gilbert Burns and Stephen Thompson? Those two welterweight powerhouses are set to meet at UFC 264 on July 10, and the winner of that fight would also deserve a title shot before Diaz.
Regardless, Diaz is wildly popular and continues to sell tons of pay-per-views. That last point means he makes dollars for the company, and it probably keeps him in the conversation about title shots longer than it probably should have.
But he doesn’t make sense, and that hasn’t changed even after Usman’s manager suggested Diaz might be the preferred opponent over Covington.
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