Kamaru Usman Expresses ‘Malicious Intent’ For Colby Covington

Kamaru Usman expresses his intentions if the UFC decides to book him in a fight against interim UFC welterweight champion Colby Covington.

As seen in the main event of UFC Chile on Saturday, May 19, 2018 at Movistar Arena in Santiago, Chile on FOX Sports 1, Usman was able to defeat former title contender Demian Maia by unanimous decision. After the fight, Usman went on record by stating that he believes he deserves a title shot as a result of the biggest win thus far in his pro-MMA career.

Kamaru Usman Expresses

Usman made it clear in a recent interview on The MMA Hour with Luke Thomas that he has plans for Covington if they fight. The reason for it is due to the interim champion allegedly turning down a fight with him.

The rising contender has made a smart play as he will weigh-in and is on hand in case either UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley or Darren Till can’t fight come fight night at the UFC 228 event. He also made it known that another fight he’s interested in is against former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos.

“If I do fight anybody, besides winning the title on Sept. 8, it will be RDA. That’s really the only fight that makes sense. He just fought for an interim title, that’s the fight that puts me right there,” Usman said.

“I’m not getting Till, which I wanted. Covington, four times I’ve been offered that fight. He’s declined each and every one — I’m not getting that fight. The only guy left to put me right there is RDA.”

Bad Blood

Usman continued by stating that Covington is the only fighter he has issues with over the failed attempts to get a fight with him and that’s what his problem is.

“Four times I’ve been offered that fight and he said no. They tried to make that fight again for Nov. 30th. They offered me the fight and I said, ‘Absolutely, I will wait for that fight’. They actually offered me RDA for that main event in Brazil that Glover [Teixeira] and Jimi Manuwa just got announced on. I said, ‘Yes, I’m ready, I’ll take the fight’, but he said he was dealing with something. He turned it down or he wasn’t ready to fight,” Usman said.

The UFC 228 pay-per-view event is set to take place on Saturday, September 8, 2018 in Dallas, Texas at the American Airlines Center. The main card will air on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET while the preliminary card will air on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET and the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass.

“If they had have offered me Covington on Nov. 30th, I would’ve said, ‘Absolutely’. That’s the one guy that I really have malicious intent to hurt inside that cage. Of course, they did offer me that and I did jump on that. But then [Covington] went to the White House and came back and was like, ‘I don’t want that fight’.”