After winning the UFC Welterweight Championship in dominant fashion, Kamaru Usman already knew who his 1st title defense would be against as he attended the UFC 235 post press conference celebrating his win over former UFC Welterweight champ Tyron Woodley. The one name that has continued to strike a nerve with the champ is former Interim Welterweight titleholder Colby "Chaos" Covington as their rivalry has continued to brew and intensify.
Dana White made it clear and well known that the next fight to make is Colby Covington against Kamaru Usman for the title. Other than that there was no clear set date or event for this bout to take place. It was also visibly noticeable that after the fight was over that Kamaru Usman was walking with a serious limp. Even when security had to hold him back from Colby Covington in the audience when he left the octagon, we could see he was experiencing discomfort.
Colby Covington has been incredibly vocal with the drama between himself, Dana White, and the rest of the welterweight Division as he is not very popular among the rest of the organization. Colby has been very vocal about how he was originally supposed to face Tyron Woodley but could not come to an agreement with the organization due to him having sinus surgery.
The rivalry has only continued to grow with the recent run in between the 2 fighters in a casino in Las Vegas as a brawl almost ensued. This would then lead to Colby Covington being banned from the casino for life due to the actions that took place with Kamaru Usman and his manager. Kamaru Usman has continued to remind the media of the beating that he is going to put on Covington as there is genuine hate between the two fighters.
Recently on his social media, the UFC Welterweight Champ Kamaru Usman released a video to the fans as he was dressed in a hospital gown saying he was taking care of his leg that had sustained a few significant injuries then he will fight with "you know who." There was no clear name in the video as the champ announced he would be getting ready to go through physical therapy before the fight, but it is pretty clear who the next challenger will be.
There was also no telling of how much time Kamaru Usman will be out for or what exactly these significant injuries are but we do know that Kamaru is taking the proper precautions to heal up his injuries and will make his return much healthier. It is well known that Kamaru Usman dismantled former champion Tyron Woodley to win the gold with a Fracture foot but had a shot of cortisone leading up to the championship bout. It will be very interesting to see what the UFC Welterweight champion Kamaru "The Nigerian Nightmare" Usman will look like at 100%. Especially with someone who can keep up the pace and has the cardio to match Usman as well as the wrestling when it comes to future opponent Colby Covington.
