With watchful eyes fixed on UFC 258 last Saturday, former interim welterweight champion, Colby Covington has claimed that former-foe and incumbent titleholder, Kamaru Usman looked “chinny” in his performance against Gilbert Burns — before predicting the gold holder drops his next outing in a knockout defeat.
Covington, who rebounded to winning-ways at UFC Vegas 11 in September via a unanimous decision win over rival and former champion, Tyron Woodley — has been linked continously to a matchup against former teammate, Jorge Masvidal, as well as a possible short-notice March appearance against the #3 ranked, Leon Edwards. As of writing, neither matchup has come to fruition.
Sharing the Octagon with Usman in a grudge-match for the undisputed welterweight title back in December of 2019 at UFC 245 — the two battled in an instant classic spent entirely on the feet and in the pocket mostly, with Usman scoring his first successful title defence via a late knockout after dropping the Colvis native twice.
Utilizing his wrestling and striking to nullify the faltering former champion, Woodley at the UFC Apex facility event, Covington took home a fifth round stoppage win over the St. Louis native who had suffered a rib injury in the one-sided defeat. Immediately calling for both Masvidal or Usman afterwards, Covington has yet to feature against either since.
Speaking with Submission Radio recently, Covington reflected on Usman’s third round knockout win over challenger, Burns, claiming the Auchi native looked “chinny” — and how he’ll get stopped with strikes in his next attempted title defence, detailing how he wants to be one to do just that.
“I think that looks like a guy (Kamaru Usman) really primed to get knocked out his next fight, and I want to be the one to deliver it. He looks a little chinny. Dilbert (Gilbert Burns), he’s an oversized midget, man, he’s a 155-er getting knocked out by 155-ers. The guy’s nothing, and that guy came out and dropped you and almost finished you in the first round? You got lucky to get out of that, he fell on his back and just sat there for five minutes and let you recover. Besides that, I didn’t see anything special. I see a guy that’s gotten worse. He changed camps and he looks like a different fighter in the worst way. He looks like he’s declined in his progression. So, he looks like a guy I’m ready to expose to the world, and I want to show them Colby ‘Chaos’ Covington 2.0.”
Despite stopping the Niteroi native in the third frame, Usman dealt with some notable adversity within the first thirty seconds of the fight, with Burns launching a clubbing overhand right counter — knocking Usman off his feet and to his hands, before he managed to regain his composure.
Sticking behind a piston-like, and almost bizarrely damaging jab in the second round following some beckoning from new head-coach, Trevor Wittman, Usman started to swing the tide of the fight in his favour. Stunning Burns with a beautifully timed pull-counter right in the second, Usman scored a knockdown in the early goings of the third — finishing with a flurry of well-placed ground strikes.
The victory proved to be a record-setting one for the defending champion, surpassing former two-weight world champion, Georges St-Pierre as the most streaking welterweight in promotional history — notching his thirteenth straight triumph.