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“I look the exact same because I put in the exact same amount of work each and every time. The only thing that changes are my skills, and that comes with the time spent honing my craft.”
Perhaps Kamaru Usman didn’t get the news about former UFC bantamweight champ T.J. Dillashaw testing positive for EPO because, according to a recent interview with MMA Fighting, ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ had no idea what the substance was.
Colby Covington accused Usman of using the injectable-only performance-enhancing drug during last month’s UFC 245 pre-fight press conference in Las Vegas, but Usman says he had no clue what ‘Chaos’ was talking about.
“He kept saying that, and I’m like what is that?” Usman said. “I didn’t know what that was, and then somebody explained to me what it was. I haven’t changed since the first moment I came to the UFC. I haven’t changed from my first professional fight to my last fight.
“I look the exact same because I put in the exact same amount of work each and every time. The only thing that changes are my skills, and that comes with the time spent honing my craft.”
Usman knows Covington is all talk, which is why he doesn’t take his comments to heart, but some fans take what Covington says much more seriously.
“I will give him props, I don’t think in the history of the sport—it’s almost like the history of combat sports period—I don’t think there’s ever been a guy universally hated this bad,” Usman said. “In the last couple of months, I’ve been in maybe five or six different countries, and I can’t tell you how many people would come up to me and say ‘I can’t wait for you to kill this guy.’ It’s overwhelming with an alarming amount.
“He’s done something right, because to be hated by the world, that’s tough to do.”
Usman is set to defend his welterweight title against Covington in the UFC 245 main event this Saturday, Dec. 14 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The PPV will also feature a featherweight title bout between Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski as well as a women’s bantamweight title bout between Amanda Nunes and Germaine de Randamie.