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Kamaru Usman believes his long-time rival Colby Covington "created a monster" to make himself a bigger pay-per-view superstar in the UFC.
Usman defeated Covington for the second time in his career at UFC 268 inside New York's historic Madison Square Garden last November. 'Chaos' made the feud personal by directing trash talk towards 'The Nigerian Nightmare' and his family.
However, Covington shared a moment of mutual respect with the UFC welterweight champion following UFC 268.
In a recent interview with GQ magazine, Usman revealed he was surprised to see Covington breaking out of his adopted 'heel' persona after the rematch.
"He has to do that. He doesn’t have the luxury to just be himself like I am. I mean, he created a monster, you know? He started telling everyone, ‘Well, I’m playing a character because they were going to cut me.’ He wanted to break it. He wanted to drop it. But he just couldn’t. People already hated him. Now it’s like, you got to double down and lean into it if you are ever going to make money in this sport... I couldn’t really hear, but he was a real person. He was a genuine person. And I was like, ‘Oh, sh*t.'"
Usman currently holds a 20-1 win-loss record in his professional mixed martial arts career. Meanwhile, No.1-ranked 170-pound contender Covington is 16-3.
Colby Covington will headline UFC 272 with former friend and teammate Jorge Masvidal
Colby Covington will square off against No.6-ranked welterweight star Jorge Masvidal at UFC 272 in Las Vegas on March 5.
Covington and Masvidal used to be close friends and trained together at the American Top Team (ATT) gym in Coconut Creek, Florida. 'Gamebred' even gave 'Chaos' a place to stay.
Covington left ATT after getting into tussles with the likes of Masvidal, No.2-ranked UFC lightweight contender Dustin Poirier and former UFC women's strawweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
Covington and Masvidal will be eager to get their hands on each other and prove to the world who the better fighter is. What better way to prove it than in the main event on a pay-per-view stage?
