The two former rivals competed for the welterweight title on two occasions inside the Octagon.
Colby Covington has had his fair share of rivals during his UFC tenure but there is only man that he has competed against multiple times.
Two of his three welterweight title shots came against Kamaru Usman with the first one taking place in the main event of UFC 245 in December of 2019 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
After ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ successfully defended the title by stopping ‘Chaos’ in the fifth round, they ran back their initial heated meeting at UFC 268 in Madison Square Garden two years later where once again, Usman came out on top.
Both men have helped to define each other’s careers but where there was once a tense rivalry now appears to be a mutual respect between them as seen in a recent exchange.
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Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman share an awkward exchange during a live stream
Colby Covington has taken to live streaming in recent times which meant that the former interim welterweight champion captured a recent exchange with his former foe.
‘Chaos’ was in attendance for UFC Vegas 102 this past weekend where Kamaru Usman also happened to be in the fight capital of the world.
During Covington’s recent stream, ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ was walking past before being briefly stopped by his former challenger.
They then shared a quick and somewhat awkward exchange as Usman appeared to be in too much of a rush to stop and talk at that moment.
Covington then explained to his live chat why he believes that the former welterweight champion didn’t take a moment to join the stream in passing.
“Yes that was Usman guys, he just said, ‘Hey man, we’re gonna talk in a little bit. I don’t think he wanted to talk on the stream, he didn’t want the chat to hear what he had to say but yeah, we’ll definitely chop it up a little bit, maybe we’ll get a picture or maybe we’ll just fight, you never know. When ‘Chaos’ is in the building, it’s unpredictable.”
Colby Covington burned his fair share of bridges throughout his career
If anything, it’s surprising that Kamaru Usman would stop at all to trade pleasantries with Colby Covington considering their previous rivalry which became personal at points.
It’s fairly common in combat sports for a grudge to come to an end after two competitors face off with one another but ‘Chaos’ has a track record for the beef remaining unsquashed.
With both previous opponents and former teammates, there are feuds that Covington created with his trash talking and persona that aren’t as simple as shaking hands and parting ways.
Had it been another one of his welterweight rivals walking past in that moment, the stream could’ve taken a very dramatic turn.