Kamaru Usman vs Colby Covington in jeopardy: “Negotiations botched”
Last week reports began surfacing, telling of the UFC’s plans to book a welterweight title fight between reigning champion Kamaru Usman and former interim champ Colby Covington. The UFC were targeting the fight for UFC 244, in New York City, Madison Square Garden, November second. While it was clear that the fight was far from official, indications were that things were moving the right direction. Now Usman vs Covington seems to be in jeopardy.
RELATED:
- Colby Covington BANNED from radio show following verbal attack
- Breaking odds: Kamaru Usman clear betting favourite over Colby Covington
- Colby Covington to get cage side support from the Trump family
- Colby Covington BANNED from radio show following verbal attack
According to reports from ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, the negotiations have not gone well.
“The Kamaru Usman v Colby Covington 170 title fight is far from done, multiple sources say,” Helwani wrote on Twitter. “In fact, negotiations have hit a snag and UFC is now looking at other options, sources say. Those options include a different welterweight title fight and/or a different main event.”
Hours later, Helwani updated the story, and apparently negotiations have gone sour. Now it seems talks to book the fight will have to start over.
“Final thought re: the MSG main event saga that’s still developing: Usman v Covington negotiations botched. Press reset. Start over. Live to fight another day. Book it later.”
Covington is most recently coming from a dominant win over Robbie Lawler – his seventh straight victory. He now has a win streak that includes decision wins over Rafael dos Anjos and Dong Hyun Kim. amongst others. Usman, however, sits on an even better ten fight win streak – the longest in the division. He has yet to taste defeat in the UFC, and was most recently active at UFC 235 where he dominated Tyron Woodley for five rounds.
