Colby Covington Goes Off On Ali ‘Abdel-A-Sleaze’

Former interim welterweight champion Colby Covington claims current champ Kamaru Usman is ‘faking injuries’ in an attempt to avoid fighting him. He’s not a fan of his manager, either.

Covington remains skeptical of the severity of Usman’s injuries despite evidence that he has already had several procedures done. Moreover, Covington believes that “The Nigerian Nightmare” is doing everything he can to avoid an eventual fight with him.

“He’s faking injuries,” Covington said. (via MMA Junkie) “He’s trying to use his belt as a bargaining tool, trying to get into Hollywood, go for Hollywood sets and stuff. He’s just following the Tyron Woodley gameplan: That’s fake injuries, delay the process as long as you can, hold up the division. It’s a sad state in the division, but I’m going to make the division great again soon.”

A showdown between Covington and Usman has been steadily building to a head. Both fighters train at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida and neither man really cares for the other.

Covington upped the trash talk and said Usman’s manager Ali Abdelaziz is feeding him lines:

“More lines that Ali Abdel-A-Sleaze is feeding him. (Usman) doesn’t even know what he’s talking about to be honest. He doesn’t know the difference between legal and illegal immigrants. It’s a sad state. He’s trying to figure out his identity; he doesn’t know his identity. It’s just sad, man. He’s trying to be this good guy, but then he’s out attacking me in the Palms buffet line, putting people’s lives in danger. It’s sad. I can’t wait to punch a hole in his face.”

When it comes to hyping a fight, few fighters take it further than Covington. He and Usman definitely have different strategies as it comes building interest in a fight.

“I think anything goes,” Covington said. “You just want to generate fans and get people to view. But you’ve got to know what you’re talking about. Don’t make this a political thing if you don’t know anything about politics. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He’s just going to make himself look really stupid. And that’s probably why he’s got a Division II education, and I’ve got a Division I education from a prestigious university.”

Hopefully, these two will meet inside the Octagon and then all the trash talking won’t matter. Either Covington’s seven-fight winning streak will disappear or Usman’s 10-fight streak and title are no more.

Covington doesn’t think its even going to be close.

“It’s going to look like an amateur vs. a professional,” Covington said. “He’s going to look like an amateur that night. He’s tried to copy my blueprint to success his whole career. The (Rafael dos Anjos) fight, the Demian Maia fight, even the Woodley fight. Those are things I’ve already done. I left those guys for dead, and he came and picked the bones off the carcasses. He hasn’t done anything that I haven’t done yet. He wants to be me, but he’s never going to beat me. It’s going to look real bad. I promise you that. He’s going to be in a pool of blood, and he’s going to have to go away from the octagon in a stretcher.”

If Covington does beat Usman and capture the welterweight strap, he promises to make the division exciting again. And with contenders like Ben Askren, that could easily be achieved.

“(Till and Thompson losing) doesn’t change really anything for me,” Covington said. “I’ve kind of been on top of the mountain by myself for a while, so this just kind of clears it out more. There’s nowhere else to go for Marty Usman. He’s been faking injuries. He’s trying to fight anybody but me. But now there’s nobody else. I’m the only one here, so there’s nowhere for him to run and hide anymore. …

“It’s exciting times for the welterweight division. I just want to keep knocking off top contender after top contender. I told the UFC, I told Dana (White) that I was here to make the division great again, and that’s by doing what the fans want, what the people want. Whoever they say is next, that’s going to be who’s next.”