UFC 268: Colby Covington walks back Octagon embrace with Kamaru Usman, ‘can’t respect cheating coward’

After another war with Kamaru Usman, this one going the full five rounds, Colby Covington seemed to drop character for a brief, heartfelt moment, embracing his great rival at the final buzzer in a show of mutual respect.

“As a person he’s a little rotten,” Usman said at the UFC 268 post-event press conference after retaining his welterweight title in the early hours of Sunday morning. “But I’m not surprised [about the gesture].

“We shared almost an hour with each other inside that cage. I don’t care who you are, there’s mutual respect that just comes alive. That’s the spirit of competition and martial arts ... I’ll leave [what was said] between me and him.”

But it wasn’t long before Covington (16-3) slipped back into his gimmick, sitting down in front of the gathered media after “The Nigerian Nightmare” had come and gone.

“I can’t respect a guy like that,” the 32-year-old American insisted, when asked what was said between him and Usman. “Go look on YouTube – a guy dissected everything that he cheats on. You see the injection marks all over his stomach. That guy’s not a clean fighter. I’m a clean fighter.”

Usman, who was awarded a special jacket this week by Usada after providing his 50th clean sample to the anti-doping body, strengthened his grip on the top spot in the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings following his second victory over Covington.

Undeterred, “Chaos” demanded a third stanza – and insisted he would get back the title by any means necessary.

Colby Covington begs UFC ‘let me end Masvidal’s career’

“I think we have unfinished business,” Covington said. “I’ll go five more rounds in the parking lot right now. I will see him again. I’m not done with him. I’ll fight whoever it takes to get back there. It was very close, whatever judge put it 49-46 is out of their f****** mind.”

After claiming to be the victim of all sorts of shenanigans during their first encounter in December 2019, which Usman won with a dramatic fifth-round TKO, it seemed Covington would have no excuses this time. But he again accused the champ of dirty tactics.

“He’s a cheating coward,” the former interim UFC welterweight champion said. “I’ve got no respect for that guy. He’s cheated in multiple fights. He was holding my glove tonight against the cage.

“In the first round, I shot a takedown, he went bam, bam, twice to the back of my head. Dan Miragliotta is one of the top three best referees in the game … I told him, don’t let this guy hit me in the back of the head. Watch the footage, he did.

“That dazes you real quick. It caught me off guard. More tactics. You’ll never see me try to cheat. I got an unfair shake again, and I still think I got the job done, I promise you haven’t seen the last of me.”