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What's the story?
At the UFC 240 post-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White confirmed that former Interim Welterweight Champion Colby Covington is next in line for a shot at Kamaru Usman's title.
In case you didn't know...
At UFC 225, Colby Covington won the Interim UFC Welterweight Championship by defeating former UFC Lightweight Champion Rafael Dos Anjos via unanimous decision.
Shortly after his title win, Covington was linked to a title unification bout with the-champion Tyron Woodley, however, 'Chaos' was unable to take the fight due to nasal surgery. Due to Covington's absence, the UFC then turned to a title fight between Woodley and Darren Till as a replacement bout.
On July 24, UFC officials indicated that Covington would be stripped of the Interim Welterweight Championship once the fight between Woodley and Till took place.
The heart of the matter
The UFC Welterweight Division is currently full of potential title contenders with the likes of Jorge Masvidal and Leon Edwards coming off huge wins over Ben Askren and Rafael Dos Anjos, respectively.
With former champion, Tyron Woodley not expected to receive an immediate rematch due to him being in the healing process with an injured hand, UFC President Dana White has confirmed that the next Welterweight Title shot will be given to Covington if he wins his next fight against former division champion, Robbie Lawler. (H/T: MMA Mania)
"Covington’s next in line. He stepped up and took this Lawler fight.”- White stated in the UFC 240 post-fight press conference
What's next?
Colby Covington will be facing Robbie Lawler in the main event of UFC on ESPN 5 on the 4th of August at the Prudential Center in Newark after the former Interim Welterweight Champion agreed to take the fight against 'Ruthless'.
This will be Covington's first fight since 2018, whereas, Lawler, earlier in the year, lost a very controversial fight to UFC debutant Ben Askren at UFC 235.
