Dramatic Finish to UFC 245
In the lead up to UFC 245, much was said from both fighters in the main event bout between defending champion Kamaru Usman and number one contender Colby Covington. With opponent Colby Covington willing to say or do anything to get a reaction out of the champion. Covington accused the champion of using performance-enhancing drugs, brought up a family member’s legal troubles, and made comments about Usman’s previous coach. The champion stayed quiet and had to bide his time and silenced Covington the old-fashioned way.
Last Saturday night, he did, finishing Covington in the fifth-round via a dramatic technical knockout with only 50 seconds left in the fight. The stoppage was poetic in a way as Usman had promised to “punish” Covington and finish him in the last round. Usman’s late stoppage resulted in a broken jaw for the challenger and yes, he literally shut Covington’s mouth by the end of their welterweight championship bout.
“I work my ass off, and I’m going to continue to work my ass off, and with good integrity,” Usman said. “I don’t have to walk around like a punk and say certain things and abuse a whole country, abuse the whole world and talk about people and religions and things like that. I don’t have to. I’m going to walk with integrity because at the end of the day I want everyone that’s watching me and every eye that’s on me to look at me and say, ‘You know what? That’s what we want to be. That’s the example we like.’”
Unprompted, Usman offered some nice words for an opponent who had nothing nice to say about him.
“It takes a lot to be able to carry all that negativity, that act, that whole fake bravado,” he said. “It takes a whole lot out of you to be able to come in here and try to fight. I imagine now what he’s going to be going through. That takes a lot out of you physically and mentally. We’ll see. He’s a tough guy, I give him his credit, he’s a very, very tough fighter, but on to the next.”
Now, Usman is on an 11 fight win streak. Only three fighters in the history of the UFC have started their octagon careers will 11 straight wins- Royce Grace, Anderson Silva, and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
In MMA, it is the nature of the sport to look into the future as to what is next.
Will Usman defend his Welterweight title against number one contender and current BMF Champion Jorge Masvidal? Who will be next for the Welterweight Champion? Perhaps that question can only be answered after Conor McGregor makes his long awaited return to the Octagon January 18, 2020 at UFC 246. A win for Conor could catapult him into Welterweight title contention.
