UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman has slammed former title challenger and his old foe Colby Covington for not accepting the fight against rising contender Leon Edwards.
Leon Edwards was originally scheduled to fight UFC newcomer Khamzat Chimaev, but the fight got cancelled after the Chechen native tested positive for Covid-19 and suffering from the lingering effects of the virus. Following this, Belal Muhammad is now stepping in on a month’s notice to fight the Brit.
There were talks about Colby Covington fighting Leon Edwards, but ‘Chaos’ said that fighting the Brit would be like doing him a charity.
Reigning welterweight champion Kamaru Usman wasn’t impressed by Covington’s decision to not fight Edwards and stated that he was making a grave error.
“I think he made a huge mistake, a tremendous mistake,” Kamaru Usman told MMA Junkie. “Who turns down a paycheck? He turned down a paycheck. That’s horrible. You can’t do that. I mean, maybe he’s not hurting for money. But you can’t turn down a paycheck. Then on top of it, you turned down a chance to really remind the fans.
“I understand, you’ve got to win. But that’s one win in how long? (Tyron) Woodley’s coming off a two-fight, three-fight skid. It’s a tough one to basically say, ‘Oh, all right, you’ve got one win. You’re back in.’ For a guy that’s coming off a two, three-fight skid, that was a tough one.”
Kamaru Usman says Colby Covington is making a mistake
“For you to sit here and demand, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ve done enough. I demand a shot’ … First of all, you weren’t (the UFC’s) favorite in the first place,” Kamaru Usman said. “You’re not. So you can’t sit here (and say that). It’s not that you’re selling mad pay-per-per views. You don’t really do that, as well. So for you to sit here and demand something like that, I think it’s ridiculous. I think the best way for you to solidify your title shot is to go out there and fight.
“And what better way than to knock off the No. 3 (ranked) guy? He’s on his way up. He’s making the claim to the throne that he deserves that shot. What better way than to knock him off? He failed to do that and I think he made a tremendous mistake.” Kamaru Usman concluded.
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