UFC 268: Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington championship rematch set to headline fight card in November
Colby #Colby
Colby Covington will finally get another crack at welterweight champion Kamaru Usman when the two meet in the main event of UFC 268 in November. UFC president Dana White confirmed the news to ESPN, though stated the exact date and location are not confirmed.
The hope is for the event to take place at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Usman has put together an impressive resume for 2021 already, picking up big knockout victories over Gilbert Burns and Jorge Masvidal. Usman has put together an 18-fight winning streak including 14 wins in the UFC Octagon and four successful title defenses.
The first of those title defenses came against Covington at UFC 245 in December 2019. The all-action bout ended when Usman scored a fifth-round TKO. Despite suffering a broken jaw, Covington has repeatedly stated the fight was stopped too early and has gone as far as to suggest there was a conspiracy against him heading into the fight. Had the fight gone to the scorecards, Usman would have taken the win by split decision.
The loss snapped a seven-fight winning streak for Covington, who had built himself into an attraction by picking up a high-volume style in the cage and a trash-talking game in the media. Covington has only fought once since the loss, stopping former champion Tyron Woodley in the fifth round of their September 2020 bout.
Following Usman’s dominant win in his April rematch with Masvidal, White stated Covington would be the next man up for Usman, saying, “It’s the fight to make.”