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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman, will step into the Octagon this Sat. night (Dec. 14, 2019) to defend his 170-pound strap against bitter rival and division No. 1 contender, Colby Covington.
They’ll headline the UFC 245 pay-per-view (PPV) event from inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, a five-round affair that will afford “The Nigerian Nightmare” the opportunity to get payback for Covington’s EPO accusations.
“He kept saying that, and I’m like what is that?” Usman told MMA Fighting. “I didn’t know what that was, and then somebody explained to me what it was. 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.”
Recombinant human erythropoietin (EPO) has been in the news over the last few years for getting several top names into hot water, including Chael Sonnen and TJ Dillashaw. The risk is worth the reward, according to Joe Rogan, because the return is so high.
“I understand why he’s doing it because he wants something to talk about to try and ruin someone’s name or identity or what not,” Usman said. “None of that is going to matter. At the end of the day, god willing, he steps into that cage, and when we hit each other for the first time, he’s going to understand that it’s different.”
Usman, it should be noted, has never failed a UFC drug test.