UFC 245 Timeline: Colby Covington vs Kamaru Usman Preview

We are days ahead of one of the most anticipated fights of the year. The welterweight title will be on the line when the former interim champion, Colby Covington squares off against the champion, Kamaru Usman. The skillsets of both the fighters and the rivalries between them make this a must-watch. It can be assured that there will be fireworks in T-Mobile Arena when these two welterweight elites settle their beef inside the UFC octagon.

Usman indeed has a lot of similarities with his counterpart, Covington. Both have an incredible MMA record of 15-1, both have won a UFC title, and both have some common opponents such as Demian Maia, and Rafael Dos Anjos.

The rivalry started years ago when Covington was scheduled to fight Rafael Dos Anjos and Usman was still trying to break into the top of the division. Both got into a heated argument during a press conference. Since that altercation both have come a long way.

After dominating Demian Maia, Colby Covington fought Rafael Dos Anjos for the interim welterweight title. Covington again put up a dominating performance against RDA and became the interim champion. With the title, Covington was supposed to fight for the undisputed title against the champion, Tyron Woodley. However, that fight did not come to fruition due to unfortunate injuries.

On the other hand, Usman was on a reign of terror with victory over Demian Maia and Rafael Dos Anjos. With a 9 fight win-streak, Usman had already established himself as a strong contender for the title.

In the absence of Colby Covington due to an injury, Tyron Woodley first defended his title against Darren Till before facing the Nigerian nightmare, Kamaru Usman. And what a fight it was! Usman annihilated Woodley in that fight winning the welterweight title. At this moment fans were already anticipating a fight between Usman and Covington. Well, the scuffle between Covington and Usman along with his manager in the hotel’s buffet line just made the fight more intriguing for the fans.

However, Covington was inactive from the sport for a long time after winning the interim title. He made his comeback against former champion, Robbie Lawler and put a performance that left his critics speechless. With an insane amount of strike rate, Covington decimated the Ruthless Lawler and called out Usman to settle the beef inside the octagon.

Meanwhile, Jorge Masvidal has become a global superstar after his victories over Darren Till and Ben Askren, and the 3 Piece with a Soda incident with Leon Edwards. Initially, Usman and Covington were supposed to headline UFC 244 at Madison Square Garden. However, the negotiation fell apart between UFC and Covington delaying the grudge match. At a moment fans even speculated that Masvidal might get the title shot against Usman. However, Masvidal went on to fight for the BMF title against Nate Diaz. After months of drama, UFC finally made Covington vs Usman official and it seems UFC has one of its best fights to headline his final PPV of 2019.

This fight is intriguing not because of the rivalry between the two. Both are phenomenal wrestlers and with the performances, they have put in their last matches against two former champions fans can only wonder how great the clash is going to be at UFC 245.

What do you think? Will it be another domination from the Nigerian Nightmare or will it be another Chaotic performance from Colby Covington?