Highlights! Usman Batters Covington Late To Retain Title

Esther Lin, MMA Fighting

Kamaru Usman ended the Colby Covington takeover last night (Sat., Dec. 14, 2019) at UFC 245 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, as “Nigerian Nightmare” scored a late fifth-round TKO (punches) to retain his UFC welterweight championship.

It was Usman who connected early with hard shots on counters inside but Covington controlled the pace of the fight. A big punch hurt Usman and Covington landed a flying kneed and follow-up punches to add to it. Usman responded with a big body punch that put Covington on notice. Usman went back to the body to begin the second before scoring more with a front kick and lead jab. Covington responded with a combination that stuck Usman. Both men exchanged and landed clean shots in bunches, but Usman pulled ahead again with more body punches.

The third round began with limited offense from both men. Usman kept trying to get to Covington’s body as “Chaos” circled around and looked to strike with volume. The champion did well to shut Covington’s offense down and counter with piercing front kicks to the stomach. Covington inadvertently landed an eye poke that stopped the fight during a violent exchange on the feet. Usman would recover and the fight continued.

In between rounds, Covington was heard telling his corner that he think he broke his jaw.

The fourth round saw Covington come out firing and connecting on Usman to put him in trouble. Another big right hand hurt Usman before he fired back and landed a right on Colby. Covington then responded with a nasty uppercut. The two would keep firing as the damage started to pile up.

The fifth and final round featured early combinations by Covington in the pocket. Usman would wait patiently before launching strikes to the body again in effort to back “Chaos” up. Out of nowhere Usman landed a slamming right hand that planted Covington on his butt. Covington quickly got back to his feet but Usman was there to land another powerful right. The champion jumped on top for short ground-and-pound as Covington covered up and the referee stepped in to stop the fight.

Check out the full fight video highlights below courtesy of UFC/ESPN.

For complete UFC 245 results and coverage click here.