Handle it in the octagon
New UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman seems destined for a date in the cage with Colby Covington. Even more-so after video surfaced of a casino altercation between Covington, Usman, and Usman’s manager, Ali Abdel-Aziz.
The video, obtained by TMZ, shows Covington standing in a lineup area at The Palms casino in Las Vegas when Abdel-Aziz rushes towards and appears to take a swing at Covington. He is then approached by Usman. Many inaudible words are exchanged, although you can clearly hear Covington say “You ain’t sh-t, yo,” towards Usman.
At one point, Abdel-Aziz approaches Covington and says something to which Covington replies “Shut the f— up, you’re not even a fighter.” Abdel-Aziz then walks away from Covington while Usman tells Covington to “stop running your mouth.”
After Usman and Abdel-Aziz leave the area, Covington calls someone on his cell phone saying “Yo, Ali just swung on me at The Palms.”
Covington spent much of the UFC 235 fight week antagonizing Usman, including showing up at his open workout with a title belt and a megaphone, heckling Usman while he worked out for fans and media. Covington then appeared at ringside for Usman’s win over Tyron Woodley with his belt and a shirt that read “Peoples Champ” (sic).
No date has been announced for an Usman-Covington fight, but UFC president Dana White said at the UFC 235 post-fight press conference that that is the fight he wants to make.
Monday Notebook
-Jon Jones said he was very worried he was about to lose his UFC light heavyweight title by disqualification Saturday night after he landed an illegal knee on Anthony Smith late in the fourth round. “It was nerve-wracking. It was nerve wracking, really,” Jones said (via MMAFighting). “I just started to pray. I was just hoping that it wouldn’t go down like that. I had flashbacks of the Matt Hamill fight and I was just thinking, oh my goodness, please, tell me this isn’t going down like this. I was just looking at Anthony and I felt like we locked eyes at one moment and I kind of gave him one of these, like, ‘you’re alright, get your a** up’ [laughs]. Sure enough, he showed the heart of a lion.”
-Mickey Gall shared on Instagram that he passed out during his weight cut for his fight with Diego Sanchez and that caused him to shut down during the fight that Sanchez won by second-round TKO. “I gassed hard in there. Had an adrenaline dump. I passed out during the weight cut and my body shut down in the first round. I’m sorry to my friends family and fans.”
–Invicta FC announced that they will be holding a series of one-night, eight-woman tournaments beginning with a strawweight tournament on May 3.
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