Kamaru Usman Reacts To Colby Covington Facing Robbie Lawler: He F*cked It Up
Colby Covington will no longer be stepping into the Octagon against Kamaru Usman next.
It was recently announced that “Chaos” will be taking on former welterweight champion Robbie Lawler in the main event of UFC Newark. Initially, it was expected that Covington would be taking on Kamaru Usman in his first-ever title defense. Now, Covington seems to be putting his title shot in jeopardy against “Ruthless.”
Speaking to TMZ Sports recently, Usman reacted to Covington taking the fight against Lawler. “The Nigerian Nightmare” said he knew Covington was going to “f*ck it up again”:
“Literally, I literally smacked my head like, ‘This kid f*cks it up again.’ Again! I said from the start, this was going to be his fight to mess up, and that’s exactly what he just did,” Usman said. “Those gambling debts might have caught up to him – you never know the backstory to what’s going on. Debts might have caught up to him, he hasn’t fought for a long time, trying to sit out and be a pest.
“”Not just to me but to Woodley at some point, and also to Dana White at some point. So, you know, you sat out for a long time and you’re kind of reaping what you sow. But, at the end of the day, this isn’t me saying ‘Oh, I don’t want to fight him.’ I definitely want to fight him. There’s no one – and people might say, ‘Oh, you’re ducking Colby Covington,’ his three fans who continuously try to pester me every day.
“There’s no one right now in the world I’d love to punch more or hurt more than him. And, him or Ben Askren. Either one, I don’t really care, it doesn’t matter, but for him to take that it just goes to show you who is in power. It’s not him. And it’s not me, I have a little say so, but there’s a bigger machine that controls that.”
When asked who he prefers to fight between Covington and Askren, Usman admits that he believes it’s “Funky” who is next. The welterweight champion wants to make an example of Askren, who he feels is the poster-child for trolls:
“I just feel like the time is right, I need to put my hands on Covington,” Usman said. “I got to get that one out of the way. But, Ben Askren is next. He’s the representative of this new age society where trolls and these guys who could probably never touch you or do anything to you feel like, because they have a platform on the internet, I’m just going to talk as much as possible.
“So I kind of need to humble him down a little bit, but it doesn’t matter. I just want to fight, get back to doing what I love. Get back to competing. So, it doesn’t matter, either one of them can get it.”
