Colby Covington vows to hand Kamaru Usman ‘life-changing defeat’ at UFC 268

Usman finished fierce rival Covington in the fifth round of their epic first meeting in 2019

Colby Covington has promised to deal Kamaru Usman a “life-changing” defeat in their rematch at UFC 268.

Welterweight champion Usman finished Covington in the fifth round of their first meeting, in 2019, but the beaten American was unhappy with the refereeing and said the fight was stopped prematurely.

He now has his shot at revenge as the pair fight for Usman’s title again on 6 November, and Covington is confident he’ll get the win.

“He should have fought me and rematched me right away,” he told Yahoo Sports. “The first time we fought there was unfinished business. The people, the fans saw for themselves how close that fight was. And that fight needed to be run back right away but he refused.”

Nigerian-born American Usman has fought three times since beating Covington – outpointing and knocking out Jorge Masvidal across two contests, either side of a stoppage win over Gilbert Burns. Covington, meanwhile, has fought once since his clash with Usman, defeating former champion Tyron Woodley via doctor stoppage.

“I’m not going to be a coward. I’m going to give the people what they want,” Covington said.

“If they want this trilogy, I’ll do it right away. The thing is, after I finish him next weekend, he’s not going to want to come back. It’s going to be a life-changing defeat.

“He’s not going to want to come back for the trilogy, he’s probably going to retire.”

Covington then said he could call out former gym partner Dustin Poirier, who won his own trilogy fight against Conor McGregor earlier this year.

He added: “I’m just trying to give the fans what they want. Dustin said it’s ‘on sight’ with me. Okay, name the site and let’s do it.”