Kamaru Usman says Colby Covington respects him as a competitor

UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman stated that his opponent Colby Covington respects him as a competitor. At UFC 268, Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman will face each other for the second time. The duo previously battled at UFC 245 where Usman defeated Colby in the fifth round of the fight via TKO. Now their rematch is set for UFC 268. The event will take place on November 6, 2021, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, United States. A UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship rematch between current two-time champion Rose Namajunas and former champion Zhang Weili is going to take place as the co-main event. Also, Michael Chandler is scheduled to face former UFC Interim Lightweight Champion Justin Gaethje at UFC 268.

Now ahead of their rematch Kamaru Usman had a few nice things to say of his arch-rival, Colby Covington. Usman said that he knows that they have a lot of bad blood between them but he also knows that they both respect each other as competitors.

“We’re going into the second fight with Colby now and I’m expecting the toughest Colby there’s been. Fighting a guy like Colby, you’d expect a lot of mutual respect because we’ve actually shared that Octagon for almost 25 minutes. He gets kind of a rep for the way that he behaves outside of the cage. I know he respects me, I know he does. He might not wanna show but I know he does. And I’ve a lot of respect for him as well. I think he’s a great competitor, I think he’s very, very tough, but the wisdom that I’ve acquired in this last year alone kind of trumps everything he has done. No pun intended,” Kamaru Usman said (h/t SportsKeeda).

Colby Covington on the other hand has some evil intentions for Kamaru Usman.

“We are in NYC about to get that belt. What’s up baby you can’t stop us,” Covington said on the first episode of UFC embedded. “We just landed in New York City from the great state of Florida and the great city of the 305, Miami. We are out here to come get a UFC world title. What’s driving me is revenge. He doesn’t want to be here. If it wasn’t for the UFC forcing his hand telling him ‘hey if you don’t fight Colby we’ll strip you and move on,’ he wouldn’t be here. He was looking for any way to avoid fighting me. It’s a great feeling for this to be in New York City. They say the city never sleeps but hopefully, they’ll make an exception Saturday night because I’m putting Marty to sleep in Madison Square Garden.”