Colby Covington openly admits to being frustrated about waiting for a rematch with 170-pound champion Kamaru Usman.
Covington lost to Usman in December 2019 via TKO at UFC 245, and since then, Colby hasn’t stopped campaigning for a chance to fight for welterweight gold again.
Colby Covington accuses Usman of tarnishing his legacy by avoiding rematch
After Usman defeated Masvidal just over a month ago, Dana White said Covington could be next in line to fight Kamaru again. However, the African champion and his team have resisted the idea, arguing that Covington needs to be more active. Colby after the loss to Usman, has only one win against former champion Tyron Woodley last September.
However, Covington said he doesn’t agree with that narrative. He is convinced he is next for the title and is confident that no one will get ahead of him.
“I am the number 1 contender. There’s a number 1 next to my name. I’m going to fight for the world title in my next fight. Whether it’s Marty or whoever, we don’t know where, we don’t know who against yet, but, we’ll fight for the world title in the next one. Marty is out there, he doesn’t want the fight. He wants lightweight fights. He probably wants a trilogy with Masvidal. Last time six days, now six weeks, he probably wants to give Masvidal six months.”
“He needs to come see me. This is the fight the fans want to see. If he doesn’t want to fight me, he can run off into the sunset because he’s scared I’m going to take his health, and that’s valid. But, I’ll fight for the world title in the next one.”
Covington said he hasn’t received much communication from UFC or his rep about a date for the rematch. He would be interested in fighting at Madison Square Garden in New York if the promotion returns there for its traditional November card, but ideally he’d like it to happen sooner.
It’s a waiting game that can sometimes lead to irritation. However Covington said there is no other fight that makes sense for Usman and thinks it looks bad that he is delaying the matchup.
“It’s frustrating. He tries to avoid me at all costs. He knows I’m the toughest fight for him, and he knows he got lucky last time. He’s asking for a huge amount of money to fight me again, so right now he’s tarnishing his legacy. The fans are seeing his true side. He doesn’t want to fight the real next challenger, the No. 1 guy, the guy who gave you the toughest fight of your career, who beat you in multiple rounds. I had a minimum of two or three rounds before the early stoppage. I was in the fight. I wasn’t unconscious. I stood up and he hit me in the back of the head. I can’t believe nobody’s talking about that either.”
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