Kamaru Usman may not officially be in action at UFC 228, but the fighter is serving as a replacement if UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley is unable to compete.
The welterweight contender also has a lot of hatred towards UFC Interim Welterweight Champion Colby Covington and Usman wants to hurt him inside of the Octagon.
“Four times I’ve been offered that fight and he said no,” Usman said on The MMA Hour. “They tried to make that fight again for Nov. 30th. They offered me the fight and I said, ‘Absolutely, I will wait for that fight’. They actually offered me RDA for that main event in Brazil that Glover Teixeira and Jimi Manuwa just got announced on. I said, ‘Yes, I’m ready, I’ll take the fight’, but he said he was dealing with something… he turned it down or he wasn’t ready to fight. If they had have offered me Covington on Nov. 30th, I would’ve said, ‘Absolutely’. That’s the one guy that I really have malicious intent to hurt inside that cage. Of course, they did offer me that and I did jump on that, but then [Covington] went to the White House and came back and was like, ‘I don’t want that fight.’”
Covington and Usman have been at each other for quite awhile now, but have yet to settle their rivalry in the UFC.
Usman is also willing to fight former UFC Lightweight Champion Rafael Dos Anjos if Covington continues turning down opportunities to fight him.
“If I do fight anybody, besides winning the title on Sept. 8, it will be RDA,” Usman said. “That’s really the only fight that makes sense. He just fought for an interim title, that’s the fight that puts me right there.”
UFC 228 takes place on Saturday, September 8 from the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas with Tyron Woodley and Darren Till headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
