UFC Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman has revealed what longtime rival Colby Covington has to do in order to earn a third shot at his gold.
Covington is widely considered to be the clear second-best 170lber in the UFC. He cemented that claim at UFC 272 last weekend, where he defeated former teammate Jorge Masvidal in the main event.
Securing bragging rights after a heated build-up, “Chaos” walked away with a unanimous decision victory over his former ATT teammate. In doing so, he maintained the #1 spot in the rankings and moved closer towards a third clash with the champion.
Unfortunately for Covington, he’s already fallen short of dethroning Kamaru Usman on two occasions. After being finished in the fifth round at UFC 245 in 2019, the former interim titleholder suffered a second loss to “The Nigerian Nightmare” at UFC 268 last November.
But despite being outfought twice by the champ, many expect the pair to share the cage for a third time down the line. And Usman has now outlined a potential path for Covington to take in order to secure the trilogy.
Usman Tells Covington To “Sell Yourself”
During a recent interview with ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto, Usman, who was in attendance in Las Vegas for Covington’s rebound victory on March 5, dropped the names of some contenders “Chaos” must fight to stake his claim for yet another opportunity at snatching the belt.
The welterweight king also encouraged his rival to ‘sell himself’ and ensure he can’t be leapfrogged or overlooked.
“Colby’s doing the right thing right now. He’s selling himself. You’ve gotta sell yourself, and you actually have to go out there and deliver, and fight,” said Usman. “Right now, it (a trilogy fight) doesn’t make sense. Go out there and sell yourself. There’s a couple more fights you need to take on. You haven’t fought Gilbert Burns. You haven’t fought Vicente Luque. You haven’t fought (Khamzat) Chimaev. So, yeah, go out there and get a couple of wins. And then continue to sell yourself, and then you can stake that claim to where people won’t deny you anymore.
“You’ve got Muhammad; Belal Muhammad is there as well,” Usman continued. “Beat a couple more guys. Shut those contenders down, because right now, somebody can leapfrog you. You shut them all down, like Francis Ngannou did, then there’ll be no talk about it. We’d have to fight for the third time.”
Judging by Covington’s post-fight interview, it seems the 34-year-old may have other ideas. Rather than fellow welterweight contenders, the name on Covington’s lips was Dustin Poirier, another of his former ATT teammates.
While it perhaps wouldn’t aid his desire to secure a trilogy with Usman, a clash with “The Diamond” would certainly draw eyes and attention, something Covington tends to heavily pursue.
Who would you like to see Colby Covington face next?
