“It just goes to show you who is in power and it’s not him.”
Following Colby Covington’s recent title shot snob, many fans are under the impression that Kamaru Usman didn’t want to fight the former interim champion.
But, speaking to TMZ Sports in a recent interview, the UFC’s newly-crowned welterweight champ said he would love nothing more than to defend his title against Covington and claims ‘Chaos’ messed up the negotiations.
Again.
“I literally smacked my head like this kid f***s it up again, again. I said from the start, this was going to be his fight to mess up and that is exactly (why) he did what he just did. Those gambling debts might have caught up to him, you never know the backstory of what is going on,” Kamaru Usman said (transcript via BJPenn.com’ s Cole Shelton). “Debts might have caught up to him, he hasn’t fought for a long time trying to sit out and be a pest to not just to me but to Woodley at some point and also to Dana White at some point.
“You sat out for a long time and now you are kind of reaping what you sold. At the end of the day, this is not me saying oh, I don’t want to fight him. I definitely want to fight him. People might say well you are ducking Colby Covington, his three fans who continuously try to pester me every day. There is no one right now in the world that I would love to punch more or hurt more than him, or Ben Askren. Either one I don’t really care it doesn’t matter. It just goes to show you who is in power and it’s not him.”
Covington is expected to headline the upcoming UFC on ESPN 5 card opposite former welterweight king Robbie Lawler on Aug. 3 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Meanwhile, former ONE FC and Bellator welterweight champ Ben Askren will take on Jorge Masvidal in a number one contenders bout at UFC 239, and ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ expects ‘Funky’ to win the bout and challenge for the title.
“I need to put my hands on Covington, I gotta get that out of the way. But, Ben Askren is next,” Usman said. “He is the representative of this new aid society where trolls and these guys that probably could never touch you or do anything to you feel like because they have a platform on the internet, I am going to talk as reckless as possible. So, I kind of need to humble him up. But, it doesn’t matter, I just want to fight and get back to doing what I love and get back to competing. So it doesn’t matter either of them can get it.”
UFC 239, which features Askren vs. Masvidal on the main card, takes place next month, July 6 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.