Colby Covington believes Kamaru Usman was on performance-enhancing drugs when he knocked out Jorge Masvidal at UFC 261 last Saturday.
Usman surprised the masses when he knocked out Masvidal with a swift, powerful right hand to retain his status as the UFC welterweight champion and make it four consecutive title defenses. Masvidal had never been KO’d in his professional career – only TKO’d once – while Usman, who was known to have knockout power, was predominantly seen as more of a heavy grappler. That’s what made his sleeping of Masvidal on the feet all the more surprising.
Having not lost since 2013, undefeated in the UFC and on a 14-fight win streak, many are debating whether Usman should be the pound-for-pound No. 1 male fighter in the UFC.
Colby Covington Speaks Out
Covington does not think so.
Talking with Submission Radio, Covington made headlines recently when he claimed that he believes Usman was on erythropoietin (EPO) to get the win on Saturday. EPO is a type of blood doping that can help improve an athlete’s endurance.
“No way I’m impressed by that,” Covington told Submission Radio. “Did you guys not see how gassed he was at the end of the first round? I mean, Marty Juiceman, he’s the CEO of EPO. So, I didn’t see anything special. If anything, he needs to find a new chemist, a new scientist to get him some new formulated drugs, because he looked like shit. He was gassed in the end of that first round, he was done. If he’s fighting me in there, he doesn’t last three rounds fighting like that.”
Covington went on to say that he was not surprised by the result because Masvidal is “a joke” and that it would be “suicide” for the Miami fighter to fight him.
“What did we expect? Street Judas has got what, 20 losses on his record? I mean, the guy’s a joke,” Covington continued. “I’m going to be champion when I beat Marty Fakenewsman in a couple of months, why would I fight a journeyman, a guy who’s on two straight losses, just got knocked out unconscious on the biggest stage. The guy’s fragile, man. He’s got no chin. To be honest, what I make of it is, no commission would approve me fighting him. That would be suicide, man. Look at what Marty just did to him. Can you imagine what I would do to him?”
Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington were once training partners at American Top Team and were considered to be best friends at one point in their careers. However, their relationship turned sour as Covington climbed the ranks of the welterweight division. The American has compiled a record of 11-2 in the UFC welterweight division with his only loss coming by the current champion Kamaru Usman at UFC 245.
In a recent episode of the Couch Warrior Podcast, host Mike welcomed Charalampos Grigoriou, who recently won a contract during season 7 of Dana White's Contender Series after knocking out Cameron Smotherman one minute into the fight. The conversation delved into Grigoriou's martial arts journey, his feelings on representing Cyprus and Greece, and future plans.
