Colby Covington: ‘I Took the Fight Out of Usman’ Before He Faced Leon Edwards

Colby Covington claims his two title losses against Kamaru Usman played significant role in Leon Edwards’ eventual victory over “The Nigerian Nightmare.”

Covington is currently scheduled to challenge Edwards for the welterweight strap at UFC 296 on Dec. 16 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Covington will receive that opportunity despite not having fought since outpointing Jorge Masvidal at UFC 272 in March 2022. “Chaos” is 2-2 in his last four Octagon appearances, with both of those defeats coming at the hands of Usman in welterweight title bouts.

Covington claims that his UFC 245 and UFC 268 losses against Usman took the fight out of “The Nigerian Nightmare,” which led to him getting dethroned by Edwards at UFC 278.

“No doubt about it, I took the fight out of Usman,” Covington told UFC.com. “His chin was never the same, and I’m the one that loosened up that chin. I head kicked him and had him on wobbly legs, then he calls timeout. It’s not like Leon did something that I hadn’t already done.”

Edwards upset Usman with a fifth-round head kick KO at UFC 278 before defending his title with a majority decision win in their rematch at UFC 286. Covington believes Usman wasn’t the same fighter going into the rematch after having been put to sleep in the first outing.

“You can tell [Usman] was just hesitant, and that knockout really affected him,” Covington said. “I don’t know, I’ve never been knocked unconscious like that, laying in that Octagon. I don’t know what that feels like and being trigger shy. All I know is one pace and that’s go forward and show the world who the cardio king is.”

While Covington hasn’t fought since a lopsided decision victory over Masvidal in March 2022, he weighed in as the backup for the rematch between Edwards and Usman this past March. Covington claims he had to work harder for his title shot than Edwards did.

“He had the right matchups at the right time to get to that point in his career,” Covington said. “He fought a lightweight washout in Nate Diaz and sat out almost two years to get his title shot. I don’t think he warranted getting a title shot after beating that guy.

“He just cried, ‘I deserve this, I deserve that’, instead of just going out there and working for it or earning it like I did. I had to earn it the hard way. No one gave me this spot to fight for the undisputed title. I had to earn it. I had to go the unconventional way because the straight-ahead way wasn’t available. He didn’t earn it the hard way like I did, and Dec. 16 he’s going to find out that he’s going to get broken by the American dream.”