Usman beats Covington to retain welterweight title by unanimous decision in bitter grudge match at UFC 268 in New York
KAMARU USMAN retained his welterweight title with victory in his grudge match with Colby Covington at UFC 268 in New York.
The Nigerian Nightmare registered his fifth defence of the 170lb belt with a unanimous decision victory over his bitter rival in front of a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden.
And the pound-for-pound king declared himself the king of the jungle after his second successive victory over the controversial Covington, saying: "I am the pound for pound best alive right now.
"I'm gonna tell you what, he's tough. He's super tough. I wanted to get crazy and get him out of there.
"But that's not what the best do. We take our time, we stay calculated, we listen to our coaches and we find the finish.
"Unfortunately, that's the next best guy in the division.
"He's a tough son of a gun and he wasn't going to let me find that finish."
Usman, 34, dominated the opening round, making the most of Covington's tentativeness with his improving boxing and a beautiful takedown.
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Covington slowly but surely upped his volume in the second but continued to be out-foxed by the champion.
And moments before the end of the stanza, the former interim champion was dropped twice by two huge big left hooks.
Covington recovered quickly but came up short with his punches early in the third, perhaps as he was cautious of the power possessed by his rival.
But he came back strong late in the round, stinging Usman with a three-punch combination and nearly getting a takedown.
Covington continued to find a home for his combos early in the fourth, although he was cautious of getting involved in prolonged exchanges.
A big uppercut and straight left from the Oregon native had Usman in big trouble and kicked off the worst period of the fight for Africa's first UFC champion.
And Covington punctuated the round with a big elbow and straight left, which he followed up with another nasty uppercut in the final seconds.
The fifth and final round saw Covington sting Usman early but fail to capitalise on his success.
An accidental eye poke in the final minute sucked the momentum out of the round, with neither man able to land any serious strikes after the restart.
Seconds after the final buzzer, the bitter rivals stunned the MSG crowd by embracing and exchanging kind words.
Usman said: "I know there was a lot of trash talk and a lot of bad blood here and I'm sure there's still gonna be some after tonight, but this guy is a tough son of a b***h.
"He's tough as s**t. I wanted to get crazy and get him out of there.
"But I knew with a guy like this he's gonna creep back in it and we're gonna end up in a situation where we don't wanna be in."
He added: "When you share an octagon with someone that's tough, you can't help it. That respect is gonna come.
"He hit me with some shots. I could tell him and his coaches over there at MMA Masters have been working on it.
"His technique was down, the power came up. a little bit and I could tell they been working on it. So I had to show them that respect."
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A dejected Covington was quick to praise his arch-nemesis but vowed to make a swift return to title contention.
He roared: "You haven't seen the best of Colby Covington. I'll be back in the gym on Monday."
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