By: Stephen Hardy-Delaney
Kamaru Usman puts Colby Covington to rest.
The champ and the former interim champ, the consensus two best welterweights on the planet went toe-to-toe in a nail-biter in which we saw two elite wrestlers go punch for punch, kick for kick with no attempted takedowns. It was a fight fan’s dream rather than a snooze fest of a “lay and pray” type of fight. With so much bad blood involved, it had to deliver.
Kamaru Usman proved he is indeed the best welterweight in the world making this his first title defense since dethroning Tyron Woodley at UFC 235 this past March.
In what was a back and forth striking match and such a close fight, no one knew who was winning the fight although many speculated that it was dead even going into the fifth and final round. Former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier had it 2-2 while the fight was headed into the final round, but fans were later notified that one judge had it 3-1 Covington, another had it 3-1 Usman, and the third judge had it 2-2 even, so if this fight had gone to a decision, we could’ve literally seen some chaos and maybe even possibly a draw, or even a new champion, who knows? We were already treated to a controversial decision victory for Marlon Moraes over former UFC featherweight champ, Jose Aldo, in which many saw Aldo get the victory in his bantamweight debut and a decision which saw Alexander Volkanovski dethrone the long-reigning featherweight champion, Max Holloway, but there was no controversy in this fight as many thought Volkanovski clearly won the fight with beautiful techniques, such as devastating leg kicks and overall domination with octagon control. But as they say “never leave it in the hands of the judges.”
Nevertheless, Usman delivered late in the fifth round with thunderous punches to the body and face that literally broke Covington’s jaw and knocked him down twice within a matter of seconds. As Covington fell to the ground the second time, Usman would go onto swarm Covington with hammer fists on the ground that made Covington crawl into a ball forcing referee Marc Goddard to call a stop to the fight resulting in a TKO victory for the champ from Nigeria, which was a long time coming. Covington talked a big game, but though he talked, he backed it up until the stoppage. Covington showed toughness and grit handling a broken jaw which he suffered in the 3rd round, but Usman showed technique, discipline, and a timing advantage in the fight which many thought he wouldn’t.
What an event to cap off the end of 2019’s pay-per-view run. Starting off with a bang in 2020 is the return of superstar and former two-weight division Conor McGregor against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, Jon Jones defending his belt against Dominick Reyes, and much more. UFC President Dana White stated that he is looking forward to booking a matchup between the UFC welterweight champion, Usman versus the UFC “BMF” titleholder, Jorge Masvidal in what could be major fireworks.
Only time will tell, and the year 2020 shall be another great year for the UFC.
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