Kamaru Usman Says Fighting Colby Covington Bigger Than Bout With Tyron Woodley

Kamaru Usman was last seen in the main event of the UFC Ultimate Fighter 28 Finale, defeating former UFC Lightweight Champion Rafael Dos Anjos by decision.

UFC President Dana White says Usman may be next for UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley, but Usman would rather go after UFC Interim Welterweight Champion Colby Covington.

“I’ve said it before that it would be good to take the title away from Tyron because Tyron has been a long champion, defended the belt several times and he is the guy,” Usman said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show. “So of course it would be great for me to be able to dethrone him. But it would feel a whole hell of a lot better for me to beat the sh-t out of Colby Duckington. It would feel a whole hell of a lot better to beat that clown.”

Woodley and Covington are both on the shelf after recent surgeries, but are expected to meet up in a title unification bout next year.

Usman is willing to fight either champion, but feels that a bout with Covington would be the bigger bout.

“I think it’s actually a bigger fight because who in the world doesn’t want to see me beat him up. Everybody wants to see it,” Usman said. “I get DMs daily from Brazilians, people all the world asking me to beat the guy up. It would be sweet. But hey a champion’s a champion so once I get that belt wrapped around me, that feeling itself is going to good enough for me.”

There is only one fighter ahead of Usman in the UFC Welterweight Division rankings and that fighter is Covington.