Like a tragic echo of Tony Ferguson’s fall from grace, Colby Covington now stands at his precipice after two lackluster defeats. Yet where Ferguson’s decline became a lesson of combat sports’ cruel nature, the former 170lbs interim champ seems to be writing a different final act. When his former arch-nemesis, Kamaru Usman unexpectedly stumbled upon the Clovis native in Las Vegas, he found not the bombastic heel of old, but a transformed figure. Gone was the MAGA hat-wearing provocateur, replaced by someone who appears to have found an unlikely peace in the twilight of his championship dreams.

Rumors have been swirling about the awkward nature of this interaction between the duo during their recent encounter. According to some sources, Usman seemed eager to quickly move past the meeting, which led to speculation about tension between the former foes, especially since the moment was captured on a live stream.

However, the former 170lbs champ has since addressed the situation, dismissing any claims of awkwardness. In fact, Usman shared that their meetup was far from uncomfortable. ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ went on to praise Covington, highlighting how ‘Chaos’ consistently impresses him—not in the Octagon, but with his fashion sense. It seems that despite their past rivalry, there’s still mutual respect between the two, at least when it comes to Covington’s wardrobe choices!

“This weekend, I was in Vegas doing my thing on the desk and I see Mr. Covington in his suit looking straight,” Kamaru Usman revealed on the Pound 4 Pound podcast. “I will give props here, you know… He’s had a couple of suits on that I was like, ‘Yo, that’s lowkey fresh.'”

The former welterweight champion also mentioned that they greeted each other as Usman seemed surprised that Covington had taken up live streaming when he was not fighting. “I was walking by, he said, ‘What’s up?’… But I think he was livestreaming… He always, it’s ‘Chaos’ [claiming that Covington was in character].”

While bumping into Usman went well, things could have gone bad for Covington when he bumped into fellow welterweight fighter Gilbert Burns at a concert a few years ago. Let’s take a look at that front!

Gilbert Burns was ready to throw down when he met Colby Covington

Colby Covington could have witnessed something similar going down when he met Gilbert Burns, as it happened when he met Jorge Masvidal in Florida, which led to their infamous brawl almost three years ago. When he met ‘Durinho’ at a concert in Brazil, they were also beefing with each other, emanating from a few distasteful words from ‘Chaos’ about the Brazilian 170lbs contender. Thankfully, things didn’t escalate and both fighters took a picture with each other.

However, in true ‘Chaos’ fashion, Covington later claimed that he posed with Burns as he was the Clovis native’s biggest fan. “Gilbert’s the biggest fan, he’s always been a fan of me… He took a picture of me at Hard Rock a couple of months ago and it was real nice; he didn’t release the picture [but] I know Gilbert put it up in his house and he framed it because he’s such a big fan.”

‘Durihno’ had a different version of this tale. Appearing on Show Me The Money podcast, he said: “It was a Brazilian concert going on three years ago, I think. I was walking up, and I saw Colby there. Colby saw me, and then he called me over. ‘Hey come over here’, and I was ready if something happens. But then, bro, this guy, this guy is so fake bro.”

Regardless, their meetup was on cordial terms, but Burns would later reveal that he would have gotten into a scrap if that had been the case that day. “I came ready, not with the wrong energy [because] if he said something, until the security came I’d [have] beaten the c— out of you, so I was kind of on that energy. But when he started saying that and slowing down a little bit.” Gilbert Burns stated. Thankfully, things didn’t escalate and both fighters took a picture with each other.

Colby Covington has shown that he’s a different person inside and outside the Octagon. Despite the several verbal jabs at his rivals, he still manages to maintain good relationships with some of them, while others just cannot stand the former interim champion. Nevertheless, let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.