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Immediately following the fight, reports swirled that Covington had not suffered any facial fractures from his loss to Kamaru Usman at UFC 245. However, further scans revealed a “non-displaced midline mandible fracture.”
Colby Covington told his corner his jaw may have been broken, while sitting on the stool after the third round, in his title fight at UFC 245. And after the bout ended – with his TKO loss to Kamaru Usman – the longtime ATT fighter rushed from the cage and into the backstage area of the arena. However, once there, reports surfaced that a post fight check had revealed no facial fractures. It seemed as though Covington’s injury fears may have been overblown.
However, following a more in-depth exam the UFC has since confirmed that Covington did indeed suffer a broken jaw during his bout.
“…following an addendum medical report completed regarding Colby Covington, it has been determined that he has suffered a non-displaced midline mandible fracture,” the UFC statement reads (h/t MMA Fighting).
A “non-displaced midline mandible fracture” essentially means that while the section of bone at the front of his mouth did suffer a break, the pieces did not get pushed out of alignment by the injury. Hopefully for him, that should make for a faster healing process than would have otherwise been the case had things gotten shoved around a bit.
The end result means a rough loss for Covington, one that will likely take quite a bit of time to recover from. But, it also adds an impressive layer of toughness to his performance, fighting the bulk of two rounds with a busted face. As of yet, there haven’t been any other reports of major injury stemming from UFC 245, no doubt more information will come out in the upcoming days.