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UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman weighed in on Saturday night’s UFC 272 main event between two of his former opponents.
Bitter rivals Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal will finally meet inside the Octagon to settle their beef as they attempt to position themselves one step closer to another shot at “The Nigerian Nightmare.” Both combatants have fought the 170-pound king twice, and they’re a collective 0-4 against Usman.
Usman fought Masvidal at UFC 251 in July 2020 and UFC 261 in April 2021, and he won via unanimous decision and second-round KO, respectively. Covington and The Nigerian Nightmare met in December 2019 and November 2021, with Usman besting “Chaos” via fifth-round TKO at UFC 245 and unanimous decision at UFC 268.
The Nigerian Nightmare was recently featured in a Q&A with the UFC ahead of the March 5th event. And during it, he was asked if Covington has quit in him. Usman believes he does, and that if “Gamebred” can land enough punishment on “Chaos,” then Covington will fold.
“Absolutely,” Usman said via MMA Fighting. “If you look back after the third round [in our first fight at UFC 245] when I cracked his jaw, he went back to his corner and told them, ‘My jaw is broken.’ He wanted a way out. Hey, he might have toughed it out and cleaned it up, and he’s no longer that guy, but I think everybody has a price. If Masvidal can do enough damage, I think Colby will make that deal with himself to be able to quit.”
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‘Doesn’t Look Good for Masvidal’ If the Fight Goes Long
If the fight extends into the later rounds, Usman believes that will benefit Covington greatly.
“It don’t look good for Masvidal [if this fight gets extended],” Usman said. “I’m just being honest. If it goes to the later rounds, that means Colby has found a way to keep the fight going as long as he can, so I don’t think that favors Masvidal.
“I don’t think he’s gonna be able to hold [Masvidal] down, maybe not until the later rounds, but that works good for Colby because he doesn’t necessarily want to hold guys down. He just wants to be able to drag him down so they have to work to get back up, then drag them back down. What’s really going to make the difference in this fight is Masvidal’s ability to not get tired. But Covington has more ways to win.”
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Usman Thinks Masvidal Can Get It Done If He Pressures Covington
If Gamebred can manage to continually pressure and hurt Covington, Usman believes Masvidal can get his hand raised inside the Octagon.
“I think Jorge just got to press him,” Usman said. “Jorge’s wrestling defense is much better than I thought because he stands straight up in that stance, bounces up and down, and you think it’s easy to take him down but it was tougher than I thought. He’s got to press Covington and you’ve got to make him remember all them times he slept on your couch, eating those $2 McDonald’s burgers, you’ve got to make him remember that.”
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