Kamaru Usman claimed a second win over his rival Colby Covington tonight at UFC 268 by unanimous decision after a closely contested battle.
Round One:
Jab lands for Usman. He connects with it again. Covington with a swing and miss. Covington in on an early takedown attempt and goes to the mat, but Usman does a slick job of rolling there to stuff it and then opt to stand back up.
Left hand for Covington. wide left and right hand from Covington. Solid right hand for Usman. Left hand from Covington.
Covington coming forward and Usman takes him down. Covington able to stand. Usman with big punches off the guard.
Covington with a body punch. Punch upstairs from Covington and a body punch from Usman lands harder.
Glancing left hook from Covington. Stepping jab from Usman. Covington has a cut to the cheek which apparently came from a clash of heads, but it doesn’t seem too bad at this stage.
Round Two:
Head kick attempt from Covington misses and Usman lands a left hook. Body kick from Covington. Usman counters to the body as Covington comes in again.
Low inside kick from Covington. Nice fast jab from Covington but misses on the follow-up punch. They go into the clinch and Covington lands a couple of knees.
Back to striking range and Usman lands a front kick to the body. Usman ducks a punch and then comes back up landing a solid counter.
Jab from usman, two leg kicks from Covington. Jab again from Usman. Jab for Covington now. Head kick attempt from Covington is blocked.
left hook for Usman. A couple of blows land for Covington and he drives into a takedown against the cage. Usman defending solidly for now and lands a couple of shoulder shrugs while he does so.
Now back to striking range and Usman lands a front kick to the body. Jab and a body punch for the champ. He lands again to the body and head.
Punch from Covington and Usman lands another counter. Stepping uppercut from Usman. Covington looks to fire back, but Usman rocks him with a short left hook. Another longer-range left hook buckles Covington’s legs.
Covington desperately dives for a takedown attempt, but Usman stuffs it easily and then lands some hammerfists to finish the round.
Round Three:
Head kick attempt from Covington is blocked. Missed punch and head kick from Covington. Usman just seems like the more cool, calm and collected striker here, but Covington does land a quick combination there.
Usman fakes a takedown and then lands the left hand. Quick jabs from the champion. Jab for Covington now. Much less activity from him in this fight than we are used to seeing.
Kick from Covington. Jab for Usman. Straight right from Usman. Kick again from Covington. Missed right hand from Covington but does land a left.
Covington attempts a takedown and Usman stuffs it and starts punishing him with short punches afterwards before they stand again.
Body kick from Covington. Stepping jab from him. Jab and a left hand for Usman. Jab for Covington. Body kick from Usman. Usman lands a front kick to the body too.
Jab again for usman. Jab for Covington and Usman lands a couple of punches. Covington getting through a little and so Usman blasts out a harder punch in response.
Flurry from Covington and a few of those punches got through. Better moment from him, but Usman is rolling with the punches to keep just out of range for most of them.
Covington in on Usman and spins around to his back and works for the takedown, but he can’t keep the champ down for more than a split second.
Round Four:
Body punch from Usman. Two hard left hand land for Covington. Uppercut from Usman. Solid jab for Covington. Hard jab from Usman now. He lands a light right hand too.
Kick from Usman. Body punch too. Solid jab for Covington. Uppercut from Covington then a left hand and a big right gets through too. Best moments of the fight for him so far.
Body kick for Covington. Hard punch lands for Usman. Now a body punch from him. Both men land heavy punches in close as the action heats up. Body punch from Usman.
Straight left from Covington. Slow head kick attempt doesn’t catch Usman off-guard though. Big punch from Usman.
Body kick from Covington and Usman backs up as Covington continues to press forward. Usman resets though and stands his ground.
Covington lands another punch. Takedown attempt from Covington but Usman stuffs it. Covington presses him up against the cage with 30 seconds of the round remaining. A couple of left hands get through for the challenger as they break free.
Jab for Usman. He lands a left and a right, but Covington also connected harder with an uppercut that puts him on unsteady legs for a second as the round ends.
Round Five:
It feels like the fight has really come alive now as we head into the final five minutes. One-two lands for Covington.
Front kick to the body from Covington. Body punch lands for Usman. Left hand from Covington. Uppercut from Covington, but powerful jab from Usman in response snaps his opponent’s head back.
Right hand lands for Usman, but then Covington fires back with solid punches. Covington lands again nicely and tries for a takedown, but Usman stuffs it and then gets back to the feet.
Jab from Usman. Front kick to the body. Back to the jab. He goes for a head kick that comes off the guard.
Punch for Covington. Usman’s punches come off the guard. Usman slips and Covington almost catches him with a high kick as he was stumbling backwards. Covington continues to drive forward and presses Usman up against the cage.
Usman turns into him and breaks away. Final minute of the fight. Right hand from Usman. Covington misses with a couple of blows. Kick from him though.
Solid right hand for Usman. Covington drives forward with punches, but gets eyepoked in the process and that forces a stoppage. The doctor checks him and he’s ok to continue.
Well into the final minute now as they go back to it with Covington landing a kick to the body. Head kick attempt from Usman is off the guard with power. Covington lands a punch and that’s the final connection of the fight – we’re headed to the scorecards.
Decision:
Another highly competitive fight then, with Usman having some big moments in the second round when he rocked and dropped his rival, but credit to Covington’s toughness for not only hanging in there, but then bringing the fight to the champion in the championship rounds.
The scorecards are in though and it’s Usman who retains his champion status by unanimous decision (48-47 x2, 49-46).
