Sophia Michaels
Kamaru Usman (16-1) finished off Colby Covington (15-2) in the fifth round with a TKO victory to retain his welterweight championship Saturday night from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Covington came into Saturday’s bout following the most impressive victory in his UFC career, walking through Robbie Lawler en route to a decision victory in which he won every round. Unbeaten in more than six years, Usman worked his way through the welterweight division in recent years and made good on his first title opportunity with a dominant decision victory over Tyron Woodley in March.
Covington picked up right where he left off against Lawler earlier this year, with an unreal pace to open the bout. For every Usman jab, Covington responded with a slew of combinations. With about a minute remaining in the first, Usman connected on a stiff uppercut to the body that looked to hurt Covington momentarily.
The second round was much of the same, with the two competitors keeping their blistering pace and standing toe-to-toe in the middle of the Octagon. Covington connected on a counter hook early in the round that looked to stun Usman briefly, but the champ was back to striking shortly. Covington stunned Usman with a body-head combo before the champ hurt his opponent with another vicious body shot before the end of the round.
After throwing essentially everything at each other, Usman and Covington were more methodical to open the third, looking for openings and striking with precision. Usman caught Covington with blow after blow to the abdomen, but Covington had the champ on the ropes with a head kick followed by an errant poke to the eye. In between rounds, Covington told his corner he believed he broke his jaw.
Despite likely fighting injured, Covington threw haymakers in the fourth, attacking Usman and sending him retreating more than once. Usman’s pace slowed as Covington landed consistent uppercuts.
In the fifth and final round, Covington came out attacking yet again, picking apart Usman with a left jab and uppercut right. Usman finally found his range with about two minutes to go and hurt Covington bad, sending him to the ground twice before earning the TKO victory.
Written by: Uproxx
