MMA: Kamaru Usman vs Colby Covington

[Mary C]

 

On Sunday, November 7, 2021, Madison Square Garden will be hosting the main event of UFC 268. Kamaru Usman will be defending his welterweight championship in a rematch with Colby Covington after beating him in UFC 245, December 15, 2019. Will Covington redeem himself by triumphing against the competitor who became his second loss? Or Will Usman be able to keep his big, shiny belt? 

 

Currently the reigning UFC Welterweight Champion, Usman is also no. 1 in ESPN’s pound-for-pound men's rankings. Usman has a 19-1 record that earned him the moniker “Nigerian Nightmare”. American professional mixed martial artist Jose Carces was the only fighter who was able to defeat Usman back in 2013. Sharing a similar record, Covington has a 16-2 win-loss record that ranked him third in ESPN’s welterweight division. After Jose Caceres reigned over Usman, there was a full-circle moment when Caceres lost to Covington at CFA 12. Covington then continued on to win seven more matches before his loss to Usman in 2019. In late 2020 however, Colby regained his composure by defeating former champion, Tyron Woodley. 

 

 

Kamaru Usman	Vital Statistics	Colby Covington
34	Age	33
1.83m	Height	1.8m
77.1kg	Weight	77.1kg
193cm	Reach	182.9cm

 

Two years after their first fight, many things have changed: both fighters have changed training camps, both have won significant matches during the said time period, and so on. All these changes will undoubtedly play into a rematch that’s full of surprises but to gauge who will win, let’s consider a number of factors. As far as the stats are concerned, Usman is marginally more vicious as a striker. 47% of Usman’s victories were earned through TKO while Covington is down at 12%. Covington also heavily focuses and relies on cardio, wrestling, and volume in his matches, and while those are his top strengths, none of those are weaknesses to Usman. That said, our money is on Kamaru Usman winning by knockout once again, sorry Covington. 

 

Let’s tune in to the Usman vs. Covington match in the UFC 268 Main event this November 7, 2021 at 11 AM (GMT+8) in Madison Square Garden.