UFC champ Kamaru Usman: Fans want me to ‘kill’ Colby Covington
UFC welterweight champion of the world Kamaru Usman has revealed he has received “thousands” of Instagram messages telling him to “kill” controversial rival Colby Covington when they eventually meet in the octagon.
Usman chatted to celebrity gossip outlet TMZ from his car and revealed that Covington's outspoken personality and trash-talking, right-wing, Trump-loving persona has led to the welterweight contender becoming one of the most hated men in the UFC.
“He’s just a big douche, let’s just be honest,” he said.
“He not only rubs everyone the wrong way, it makes people want to punch you in the face now – and I’m talking women and children (and) grandmas! Not just fighters.”
Also on rt.com Colby Covington clashes with UFC champion Kamaru Usman on UFC Newark post-fight show (VIDEO)Usman, who has never lost in the UFC, is expected to make the next defense of his welterweight title against Covington later this year, with the UFC’s November card at Madison Square Garden or end-of-year event in Las Vegas the most likely options.
Whenever they do meet, Usman will be cheered on by a host of fans who are desperate to see Covington lose. Some have even gone to the lengths of messaging Usman directly with very direct instructions, as he explained.
“I’ve been deleting messages for the past two days from Instagram,” he said.
“I’ve just deleted, deleted, deleted messages – thousands of messages on Instagram – of people saying: ‘Bro, you’ve gotta kill this dude.’ It’s not ‘beat him,’ it’s ‘kill this guy,’ ‘kill him for us,’ ‘I want him done worse than Askren was.’”
“People have malicious intent for this guy – myself included – and I’m just blessed to be able to go out there and do it.”
And while some people believe Covington’s persona is a manufactured one in order to raise his profile – and bank account – Usman says his feelings towards his potential next opponent are very real indeed.
“That’s real. That’s absolutely real,” he said.
“I’m a young boy from Auchi, Nigeria. How our lives intertwined and the crazy things we have in common all through life – not just now, years ago, from college, years ago.
This was meant to happen, this was the story. This was what God’s plan was for us. So hopefully, by the end of this year, we get to show the world how that ends.”
And Usman signed off with a warning for Covington ahead of their potential clash later this year.
“Mr. Covington, you talk a big game, but you and I both know this is a fight that you didn’t want,” he said.
“You didn’t want to have to face this reality that’s coming next. Well, it’s gonna happen now. Unless you have to have another nose job, it’s gonna happen now.
“So please, don’t do anything crazy. Keep yourself healthy, and let’s make it happen before the year’s over.”
