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The next time Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) stages an event, it will be on July 11, 2020 on “Fight Island,” which is located on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. Indeed, UFC 251 will kick off what will be a total of four mixed martial arts (MMA) events for the promotion in the span of just 15 days.
Headlining the pay-per-view (PPV) card will be a Welterweight title fight between division champion, Kamaru Usman, and top contender, Gilbert Burns. “Durinho” was the recipient of a the great opportunity after Jorge Masvidal — the rightful No. 1 contender — couldn’t come to financial terms with UFC.
Before “The Nigerian Nightmare” attempts to secure his second title defense, take a look back at his first, a dominant victory over his bitter rival and former interim division champion, Colby Covington.
Back in December of 2019, Usman and Covington headlined UFC 245 form Las Vegas, Nevada. As expected, the two men wasted no time getting after it, with Covington determined to be the aggressor early on. Not one to back down, Usman stayed in the pocket and delivered his own shots, as well.
And that was pretty much the story of every round, both men swinging for the fences, eating shots and delivering them. That was up until “The Nigerian Nightmare” picked up the pace in the fifth and final one. With just a little over a minute remaining in the fight, Usman really started connecting on his shits, wobbling Colby on a few occasions.
With 68 seconds remaining, Usman connected on a huge straight right that dropped Covington. From there, the champ pounced on his wounded foe — who managed to get back up only to get dropped again — until Marc Goddard put an end to the fight. While the stoppage may have been premature, Goddard perhaps saved Covington from further damage, as he suffered several facial injures including a broken jaw.
UFC 251 will also feature a Featherweight title fight between division king, Alexander Volkanovski, and Max Holloway, and a vacant Bantamweight title fight between Jose Aldo and Petr Yan.
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