After two years and two fights, the two top welterweights in the world finally found a way to make peace.
For one night, anyway.
But what mattered most at the conclusion of UFC 268 from Madison Square Garden was that Kamaru Usman is now 2-0 against bitter rival Colby Covington after winning a unanimous decision, 48-47, 48-47, 49-46, that was closer than the scorecards would indicate.
“It’s a lot of trash talk. It’s a lot of bad blood here,” said Usman (20-1, 10 finishes) in the octagon after the decision was read, referring to the bitter war of words with Covington (16-3, eight finishes) dating back to 2019. “But he’s a tough son of a b—h”
Usman’s respect for the challenger, who the champ defeated via fifth-round TKO in December 2019 in a win that failed to bury the hatchet, came moments after he and Covington looked to offer mutual props to one another as they awaited the decision.
“When you share an octagon with someone this tough, you can’t help it that respect is gonna come,” Usman said.
The rematch took on a more measured pace early than the Fight of the Year, volume-heavy battle that played out two years ago. In the first frame, Usman landed a tad heavier and made Covington pay for a takedown by winding up on top before the two moved back to standing.
“I came out a little sluggish,” Covington admitted at post-fight media availability. Arriving on crutches and with ice on his foot, he suspects he may have broken his foot throwing a calf kick that landed on Usman’s knee in the opening frame.
Usman’s edge in power played out early in the second round, too, landing digging punches to the body. In the final minute, the champ dropped Covington with a heavy left hook and swarmed, but the challenger held on until the horn as Usman went up 20-18 on the scorecards.
“It’s very, very hard not to get crazy when you hurt someone like that,” Usman said later at the post-fight press conference. “But I know he did his homework. … so he stayed very poised.”
Covington had cleared the cobwebs by the start of the third, and each had their moments as the output from each man increased. By the end of the round, it was Usman fending off chain takedown attempts from his rival, although little effective offense sprung from the sequence that capped a close middle round. A close round was scored each way on the cards, with two judges seeing it the way of the champ.
The fourth again saw renewed success from Covington early on the feet, landing some of his hardest punches of the fight. He found the mark with around 90 seconds left as well, backing up Usman and, later, landing a heavy elbow by the fence to punctuate his best round, and the only one he swept on the judges’ scorecards.
“I had my moments,” Covington said in the cage afterward. “I wobbled him a couple times. I wasn’t able to capitalize.”
In the opening minutes of the final round, the challenger found himself winning a brief firefight, but a takedown attempt was thwarted by Usman and stemmed Covington’s momentum. A Covington kick again put Usman on the defensive.
An incidental eye poke to Covington paused the action with under a minute to go, but neither could prevent the judges from weighing in. Ultimately, two of the three judges awarded the frame to Usman, locking up the win and fifth successful title defense for Usman, whom UFC president Dana White hyped as “the greatest welterweight of all time” at the post-fight media availability.
Even after moving to 2-0 against Covington, Usman isn’t ready to close the book for good on the idea he might face his greatest rival again, a man who the champ considers to be the No. 2 guy at 170 pounds.
“That guy’s tough,” Usman said of the challenger. “I think he’ll tune up a lot of guys in this division.”
For his part, Covington, who by the wee hours of Sunday morning was back to bashing Usman as a “cheater,” agreed.
“I think we have unfinished business,” he said.
Rose Namajunas receives a lot of love from New York crowds. It makes sense, given two of the biggest wins in her career have come at Madison Square Garden and Barclays Center.
Earlier, in the UFC 268 co-headliner, Namajunas made it 3-for-3 in the five boroughs with her second victory over the year over Weili Zhang, defending the belt she won from the Chinese challenger in April and earning a narrow split decision victory, 48-47, 47-48, 49-46.
Zhang, who was stopped via head kick knockout barely a minute into the first fight, was at her strongest early. She mixed striking and takedowns well and appeared to be in the driver’s seat going into the third.
But Namajunas found her footing in what was a close middle frame before taking control in rounds four and five.
There’s no joy on Long Island for fight fans.