Colby Covington is of the opinion that he did enough to become the welterweight champion at UFC 268.
‘Chaos’ endured a slow start to his rematch with Kamaru Usman on November 6 before eventually growing into the fight and pushing ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ the full 25-minute distance.
In the opinion of the three judges and most MMA fans, Covington didn’t quite do enough to dethrone the champion despite giving a good account of himself.
During a recent interview with Submission Radio, Covington insisted that he did enough to beat Usman and should’ve won the final three rounds on the scorecards.
“I clearly won that fight three to two,” Covington said. “The third fourth and fifth round were my rounds. And even if you were looking on a different side of the scope, I think you could see me winning the first round too. It was very close and competitive. After ten rounds, the people see what happened. We fought two times. At the ten rounds, at the worst, I’m winning six rounds to four.
“So, I think there needs to be another fight, there’s needs to be a trilogy if he stays around, if he wants to stick around. After fighting me two times I think he realizes how serious I am and how bad I want that belt. So, I don’t know if he’s willing in that octagon like I am, and I’m gonna get my shot back at him – if he doesn’t retire first. He might retire and just go ride off into the sunset. But if not, I’m looking for that Marty trilogy.”
The former interim welterweight champion even thinks his attempts to wrestle with Usman in round one should’ve won him that round and ultimately the fight,.
“The first round I thought I definitely won that round,” Covington said. “I took him down definitely two times. Any wrestler, even DC – DC’s on there. I mean, the guy’s an Olympic wrestler, NCAA champion, one of the best wrestlers of all time and a wrestling coach, and if he’s saying that that’s two, that’s a takedown, I mean, it’s pretty obvious that I broke that record.
“He’s not unblemished on his being taken down record in the UFC anymore. I’ve obviously taken him down, I took him down twice, I won the fight. I dropped him and I wobbled him, hurt him to the body. That was my fight, man. The people saw that. That’s who they were rooting for at Madison Square Garden.”
Colby Covington Can’t Respect Kamaru Usman
After sharing 10 rounds with Usman and a pretty nice moment at the end of the UFC 268 main event, Covington insists he still doesn’t respect his 170lb rival, who he continues to label a cheater.
“I can’t respect that guy. How can I respect a cheater? He poked me in the fight. I was clearly poked again,” Covington said. “Like, again. That’s the second time he’s poked me. He grabbed the cage when I was taking him down the second time. He was grabbing the fence. That’s clearly cheating. I mean, he cheated multiple times in the first fight. When did I ever cheat? Not one time did I cheat or do anything wrong in both fights.
“I fought clean, I fought hard, I never took any breaks, and I can’t respect him. He’s a cheater. I mean, it’s clear that he does steroids. Like, that’s what we get. That’s the best guy in the world. The CEO of EPO. He’s a supposed pound for pound chemical fucking fighter of the year. He’s got a chemical imbalance, you know, acne over his face, all over his back. Come on, dude, he lost his hairline. I made so much fun of him that Marty Juiceman gave away his hairline, he just shaved it. He’s like, ‘you know what, let me just go. It’s already halfway up my head. Let me just get this out of here, man. No more, man. I’m taking it off’. He’s bald now. He’s an ugly fucking motherfucker but it’s clear that he’s a cheater. I don’t respect a cheater.”
Do you think Colby Covington did enough to beat Kamaru Usman at UFC 268?