TJ Dillashaw just returned to action last weekend after a two year suspension for using EPO, and now Colby Covington is accusing his rival, welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, of also using the banned performance-enhancing drug.
“He’s been doing EPO his whole career,” Covington said of his rival, who he’s set to fight in a title rematch later this year. “It’s so obvious. His chemical imbalance in his body. He’s got the pimples all over his back, all over his face. You’re a 35-year-old man. You’re not going through puberty and you’re in your teens anymore. You should not be having that chemical imbalance and that breakout. That’s from his testosterone being out of whack, and his estrogen and testosterone levels are out of whack.”
Covington continued his unsubstantiated claims by alleging that he knows people from Usman’s past who were aware of his drug use.
“I’ve heard firsthand from some people that he trained with, some people that I might have went to wrestle in college with that said the same thing,” Covington said. “They could verify that he has done EPO and he’s injected in his ass. He’s the CEO of EPO, he’s Marty Juiceman.”
Despite his accusations, Covington is still eager to fight Usman for a second time as he seeks to avenge his previous jaw-dismantling TKO loss to the champion back in 2019.
“I know he’s gonna be doing it. There’s ways to get around the test. They’re not blood testing, they’re doing a piss test here and there. They’re not gonna blood test him, they’re gonna let him get away with it. But you’ve got to live with that the rest of your life. You’ve got to live with that in your conscience, that you had to cheat your whole way through your career. I know I’m an all natural American. I work the hard way, blue collar, earned it. Blood, sweat and tears, this is earned to the very core. To the very root, naturally. I didn’t cheat, I didn’t cut corners, I took the long way to get here.
“He has to live with that. He’s gonna have problems later in life, his organs, all that stuff’s gonna shut down. He knows he’s taking years off his life. But that’s the choice he has to live with. If that’s what he wants to do, that’s what he’s doing. But you cannot stop destiny, and this is destiny. Nov. 6 is destiny. Colby ‘Chaos’ Covington will be the UFC welterweight champion of the world, and there’s not a steroid in the world that can stop it.”
It has to be stressed that there’s absolutely no proof whatsoever of Covington’s claims, and he’s well known for making outlandish, attention-grabbing statements, but nonetheless, it’s clear that he’s already ramping up the mind games ahead of their eagerly anticipated rematch.
