ROUNDTABLE: Should Kamaru Usman or Colby Covington get the next welterweight title shot?

Who is more deserving of a welterweight title shot, Kamaru Usman or Colby Covington?

Sean Covington, Columnist – Covington’s Corner

It’s Colby Covington because he has been waiting and the interim championship fiasco is disgusting. He is a complete idiot and I want to see him turned into a vegetable by his next opponent no matter who it is, but he does actually deserve the shot because that’s how things should go. The interim champ should face the real champ. Kamaru Usman deserves the first crack at the winner between Woodley and Covington.

Frank Hyden, Columnist – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I’d go with Usman. I don’t think Covington has done enough to warrant getting a shot. He’s been trying to up his promo skills and making waves but I think Usman is more deserving. Maybe Covington is more entertaining (depending on your opinion of him, I guess) but Usman should get the shot.

Christian Moore, MMATorch Contributor

Kamaru Usman leaped over Colby Covington when he beat Rafael dos Anjos. I said it in my prediction, that Usman is an exact copy of Colby, just a better wrestler and a much greater striker. Both beat RDA, so who did it better? Usman. Colby in his fight held Dos Anjos, and just controlled him against the cage, not delivering much damage. Usman destroyed RDA in every aspect. Striking, clinching, ground. He changed RDA’s face. I think another thing that gives it to Usman, is that Colby was offered the fight, and declined, so his shot, well, he passed on it.

NEXT: A TACTICAL ANALYSIS OF HOLLOWAY VS. ORTEGA

Michael Hiscoe, MMATorch Managing Editor

I’m in favor of Colby Covington getting the next shot. From a competitive standpoint, I think it’s really a wash between he and Kamaru Usman. But from a business standpoint, putting Covington in a pay-per-view main event has a much better chance of doing well than with Usman. Covington gets a lot of talk due to his antics, but he’s really untested as a pay-per-view attraction. Putting him with Woodley will be a good test for him in the cage and at the box office. Woodley has done OK pay-per-view numbers with Robbie Lawler and Stephen Thompson, but not so well with Darren Till so it will be interesting to see where a Woodley-Covington fight fits in with the rest and if Covington can become a draw in his own right.