Kamaru Usman thinks Colby Covington made a mistake.
After Khamzat Chimaev was forced to withdraw from his main event against Leon Edwards, the Brit called out Colby Covington. It would be a big fight for the division and the winner likely would’ve gotten a title shot.
However, the fight did not come to fruition and Edwards will face Belal Muhammad instead. For Usman, he thinks Covington should’ve accepted the fight against Edwards.
“I think he made a huge mistake, a tremendous mistake,” Usman told MMA Junkie. “Who turns down a paycheck? He turned down a paycheck. That’s horrible. You can’t do that. I mean, maybe he’s not hurting for money. But you can’t turn down a paycheck. Then on top of it, you turned down a chance to really remind the fans.
‘I understand, you’ve got to win. But that’s one win in how long? (Tyron) Woodley’s coming off a two-fight, three-fight skid. It’s a tough one to basically say, ‘Oh, all right, you’ve got one win. You’re back in.’ For a guy that’s coming off a two, three-fight skid, that was a tough one.”
For Kamaru Usman, who is waiting for his next title challenger, thought facing the winner of Edwards-Covington made sense. However, “Chaos” appears to think he can demand a title shot and get it. Yet, for Usman, he doesn’t think that to be true.
“For you to sit here and demand, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ve done enough. I demand a shot’ … First of all, you weren’t (the UFC’s) favorite in the first place,” Usman said. “You’re not. So you can’t sit here (and say that). It’s not that you’re selling mad pay-per-per views. You don’t really do that, as well. So for you to sit here and demand something like that, I think it’s ridiculous. I think the best way for you to solidify your title shot is to go out there and fight.
“And what better way than to knock off the No. 3 (ranked) guy? He’s on his way up. He’s making the claim to the throne that he deserves that shot. What better way than to knock him off? He failed to do that and I think he made a tremendous mistake.”
For now, Colby Covington remains on the sidelines and awaits his next fight.
