Nigeria’s Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman is scheduled to make the latest defence of his title on November 6 against his main rival, Colby Covington.
This is contained in an official statement by UFC, which confirmed that the second epic battle between both fighters will take place at Madison Square Garden in New York City, USA.
The same venue has hosted four major pay-per-view events of the mixed martial arts empire, most recently UFC 244 in November 2019, but it has been off-limits due to COVID-19 capacity restrictions, but it is now gradually coming back to life.
Additional information by the organisers revealed that the much-expected rematch will headline the UFC’s November pay-per-view event, after both fighters agreed to honour the bout and their contracts are now expected to be finalized.
A report by MMA Fighting added: “The promotion has targeted Nov. 6 as the date for the pay-per-view event, which is expected to be UFC 268, per sources. The matchup and PPV plans were first reported by ESPN.com citing UFC President Dana White.
“UFC President Dana White named Covington the No. 1 contender to the welterweight title earlier this year. The former interim champ lost to Usman via fifth-round TKO at UFC 245 after a heated buildup.
“Covington claimed he was the victim of bad refereeing and demanded a rematch. Usman, the No. 1 ranked welterweight in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings and No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, is three months removed from a victory in another rematch.
“(That was during) a UFC 261 headliner in April that ended in his most emphatic performance to date with a knockout of Jorge Masvidal. It was his fourth defense of the welterweight title.
“Covington most recently appeared in the octagon this past September at UFC Vegas 11, where he stopped ex-champ Tyron Woodley in another grudge match.
“The performance put him back in the win column after his loss to Usman snapped a seven-fight UFC winning streak.”
Incidentally, in a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Covington accused Usman of ducking the rematch and declared: “As soon as his balls stop shrinking and he comes back to earth, he can fight me again.
“But the thing is, he’s off the grid. He’s probably got his phone on airplane mode, he’s denying all the UFC’s calls. He doesn’t want to sign the contract.
“He’s just hoping some alien invasion happens where he can pick some other lightweight washout to fight.”
