Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington…
While this fight hangs in the balance and hasn’t officially announced by the UFC, a welterweight championship bout between reigning champion Kamaru Usman and former interim champion Colby Covington is hoped to take place at UFC 245. This event will go down at T Mobile Arena, Las Vegas on December 15th. We may finally get our answer of who’s better between these two.
Kamaru Usman opened up as quite a sizable favorite over Colby Covington, with him sitting at -250 and Covington at +195. These odds will continue to change and fluctuate on the best betting sites for UFC, until the fight actually happens, they always do.
It’s hard to say how this one will go, considering they’re almost identical in style. Both are constantly throwing strikes and walking their opponents down, both strikes mainly to get into range for a takedown, or to wear on their opponent on the fence. They’re both elite level wrestlers, both have insane cardio, they’re almost the same fighter. The only differences are that Usman throws mostly punches, while Covington does mix in other strikes, and the other is that Usman’s just a little more physically imposing.
Usman is 6′ with a 76” reach, as opposed to Covington being 5’11” with a 72” reach. He’s also a little more muscular, and perhaps stronger. When it comes down to the best of the best, usually if there’s a size difference, the bigger man will win. Not generally, but when talking about the very best in the world, and Usman is the bigger man. Usman will most likely take a close decision considering, but who knows with this fight. They’re both so incredibly good at fighting.
Something to be noted, as Covington has said, Usman beat Demian Maia and Rafael dos Anjos both after he handled them first. Covington probably should have been the one to fight Tyron Woodley at UFC 235 rather than Usman in all fairness, and given how that fight went, Covington probably would’ve had a very similar performance and won the title himself. It’s very evident these two don’t at all like each other. From both of these guys being accomplished and credentialed wrestlers, to both being cardio machines, to being two of the only three fighters to ever land 10+ takedowns and 100+ strikes in a single UFC fight, to one being 31 and the other being 32, we literally need to see this fight happen so we can see a difference and see who’s better.
This is perhaps the biggest welterweight title fight since Georges St-Pierre versus Johny Hendricks. Remember how everyone needed to see that fight in order to know who the best welterweight was? Remember how a ton of people said “Bigg Rigg” was the one to dethrone “GSP” and that “GSP” was ducking him? Now everyone’s saying that about Usman. Now a ton of fans were saying that “The Nigerian Nightmare” was ducking “Chaos”, and everyone wants to see this happen, so we really know who the best 170-pound fighter in the world is.
This is a great fight that’s been in talks for quite a while now but was really made after Covington’s fight with Robbie Lawler at the ESPN desk. This fight needs to happen but until it’s confirmed by the UFC all we can do is wait.
