“I’ve been told the fight is going to happen 100 percent. Just depends on Usman.”
A welterweight title bout between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington is all but official, according to American Top Team owner and manager Dan Lambert.
Speaking to BJPenn.com in a recent interview, Lambert said Covington is waiting on Usman, the newly-crowned welterweight champ, to accept the fight and sign the contract.
“I’ve been told the fight is going to happen 100 percent. Just depends on Usman,” Lambert said. “I know after his fight against Woodley he needed surgery. I was told it would be soon but now told it may be a little while longer. They are waiting for Usman on a date. Colby is ready to fight and waiting to fight.”
Covington, the former interim titleholder, had developed a heated rivalry with ex-champ Tyron Woodley and was originally expected to fight his former teammate in a title unification bout.
Usman got the title shot instead, though, and went on to dominate ‘T-Wood’ to become the UFC’s first ever African-born champion.
Shortly after capturing the belt at UFC 235, Usman got into a heated physical altercation with Covington at a Las Vegas buffet, and both men were ejected from the premises and banned from the establishment.
This has stoked the fires for a new UFC rivalry, but Lambert isn’t sure it will prove to be as intense and personal as the Covington-Woodley saga.
“I don’t know if it would have been bigger than T-Wood,” he said. “I think that would have been the best fight for the UFC to do. There is a lot of heat between him and the UFC. It is legit, not manufactured. Those two guys genuinely hate each other.”
If Lambert is right, expect the UFC to announce Usman vs. Covington in the coming weeks.