Colby Covington Unimpressed by Kamaru Usman’s Win vs. ‘Journeyman’ Jorge Masvidal

The man who is likely next in line for a shot at welterweight gold was not impressed with Kamaru Usman’s performance at UFC 261.

Usman dispatched Jorge Masvidal via second-round knockout in Saturday’s headliner at Vystar Veteran’s Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. “The Nigerian Nightmare” drew the rivalry with Masvidal to an emphatic close after taking a five-round verdict against the American Top Team product in their first meeting at UFC 251 this past July. Usman has now won 14 fights in row in UFC competition and looks to be one of the most dominant champions in the sport.

Still, it should come as no surprise that Colby Covington didn’t have anything positive to say about Usman’s latest triumph, which came against Covington’s former training partner.

“It took eight minutes longer than when I would finish Jorge Masvidal every time we trained,” Covington said on the ESPN post-fight show. “That guy’s a journeyman. What’s he got, 15, 20 losses on his record. You shouldn’t be happy and praising yourself for beating a journeyman like that. There’s a reason he’s a backstabber, a street Judas and a bum. If I lost the next 12 fights in a row, I still have a better record than journeyman Masvidal.”

While Usman used his wrestling to thwart Masvidal at UFC 251, his striking took center stage on Saturday. It was his third win by knockout or technical knockout in four title defenses. According to Covington, “Gamebred” left himself open because he was overly concerned with being taken down.

“I definitely knew it was a possibility [that Usman would win by knockout], because he puts the threat of the takedown, and that’s what Masvidal was worried about,” Covington said. “[Masvidal] didn’t want to get taken down and stopped, so he’s worried about getting taken down, and boom, he hits him with a right hand. He has his hands down.

After the event, UFC president Dana White reiterated his plan to book a rematch between Usman and Covington next. Usman defeated Covington via fifth-round technical knockout at UFC 245 in December 2019.

“It’s a different style matchup when I’m fight Marty. He knows he can’t take me down,” Covington said. I’m going to take him down into deep waters, and I’m going to finish him. There’s no more fake nut shots next time.

“..We’re getting better every single day. My striking is on a whole other level. What has to go different is I have to put a higher pace on him next time. I didn’t put enough pace on him last time and just keep my hands up. I know I’m going to get my hand raised when I fight him.”