At UFC 235 on Saturday, March 2, Kamaru Usman dominated Tyron Woodley to claim the UFC welterweight championship. Immediately after the bout, UFC president Dana White confirmed Usman’s first title defense would be against former interim titleholder Colby Covington.
One day after the announcement, on Sunday, March 3, members of Usman’s team and Covington nearly came to blows inside of The Palms Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
The two fighters came face-to-face inside of the hotel when they had to be separated. Ali Abdelaziz, the manager of many top mixed martial arts fighters including Usman, was the main aggressor and appeared to throw a punch in the direction of Covington before others intervened.
After the brief scuffle, there was some verbal sparring before the video — obtained by TMZ Sports — was cut off.
You can check out the full video below:
There is no word on when Usman and Covington will finally come head-to-head inside of the Octagon, but you can guarantee there will be no shortage of promotion leading up to their potential fight.
Of course, Usman will first have to be cleared by doctors.
Following his win over Woodley at UFC 235, Usman arrived at the post-fight press conference in a wheelchair before limping to the stage to take answers from the media. It was there that Usman stated he had suffered a broken foot and was going to see doctors to determine how to move forward with the injury.
“I’ve been on one leg the whole time and coming into this (fight), I was in a boot all week. I fractured my left foot and I was in a boot. I was walking around in a boot, but nothing was going to deter me from achieving what I set out to achieve,” Usman told the media. “I need a little bit of time to let these injuries heal so I cannot just be 30 percent, but so I can be 100 percent inside that cage.”
But when he is healthy, he will be ready to go after Covington.
“I want to (expletive) that guy up so badly,” Usman said. “I can’t be in a room with that guy. I can’t. I can’t be in a room with him. I just can’t. I can’t wait to heal up and really put my hands on him. That’s one I’m going to enjoy brutalizing him.”
