The UFC welterweight division was turned upside down over the weekend at UFC 235, as Kamaru Usman absolutely dominated Tyron Woodley to become the new titleholder in 170lbs. The chances had Usman listed as a sizeable underdog, but he demonstrated the odds wrong as he absolutely dominated the battle from bell to bell and became the newest UFC welterweight champion. And today, we know exactly what the next challenge will be for the new champ.
According to UFC president Dana White, Usman won’t make his initial title defense at a rematch against Woodley. Rather, Usman will take on former interim champ Colby Covington next. Over the weekend movie emerged of Covington monitoring down White at a Las Vegas casino and demanding a title shot. In accordance with both Covington and White, once the cameras were switched off they had a fantastic discussion as grown men, and made amends to their public spat over Covington maybe not getting the title shot against Woodley.
White states that Covington will take on Usman, and it’s likely this fight will occur sometime in the summer, perhaps at International Fight intersection this July in Las Vegas, or perhaps about the UFC’s pay-per-view card in Chicago in August. Usman didn’t take any damage at all in the Woodley struggle, and Covington is healthy as well, therefore the UFC should not have any problem getting this fight booked whenever possible. Considering how stagnant the welterweight division was times when Woodley was the champ, it is going to be nice to see Usman continue a busy schedule as champ. At his current pace, he will hopefully struggle three occasions this year.
So far as the Usman vs. Covington struggle goes, it promises to have tremendous promotion leading up to it as both men are excellent talkers in the media. As for the matchup itself, it’s a struggle between two of the greatest wrestlers in 170lbs. In the event that you had asked me to line this struggle one year ago, I would have contributed Covington a slight nod. But after seeing what Usman did to Woodley, you absolutely have to see Usman recorded as a sizeable favorite. Now, I think the oddsmakers would have to open up Usman as at a 2-to-1 favorite, or more. What he did to Woodley was pure domination, and as fantastic as Covington has been himself at the UFC, Usman has looked even better.
UFC Wants Jones vs. Santos Next
White said the UFC wants to reserve Jon Jones against Thiago Santos for the UFC light heavyweight title. Jones had a bit of a scare in his struggle against Anthony Smith because he nearly lost his belt caused by DQ due to an illegal knee using a downed opponent, but he ended up winning a lopsided decision at the end of the five rounds. If asked by reporters if Jones could fight Brock Lesnar next, White reported the UFC would like to book Santos against Jones. Santos is coming off of a dazzling KO over Jan Blachowicz and has gone 3-0 as a light hearted, therefore he is more than deserving of fighting Jones. Hopefully this fight is reserved shortly, because Jones took no harm against Smith and it would be wonderful to see him stay on a busy scheduled in 2019 and struggle a few more times as well.
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