Colby Covington claims Masvidal and Usman rejected his offer of being UFC 261 stand-by

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3 years ago

December 13, 2019, Las Vegas, California, USA: Welterweight Colby Covington during the UFC 245 ceremonial weigh-ins at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV, Dec 13, 2019. LDN-L-CER-UFCWEIGHINS--1212 - ZUMAo44_ 95715342st Copyright: xHansxGutknechtx

Colby Covington has revealed that Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal rejected his offer of being the backup fighter at UFC 261.

UFC 261 is set to roll soon this weekend. The main card features some of the greatest matchups this year will ever see. Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal are set to run their UFC 251 fight back, in the main event, with the welterweight title on the line.

With a staggering crowd of 15000 fans at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.

Kamaru Usman kicks Jorge Masvidal in their UFC welterweight championship fight during UFC 251 (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

This will be the first UFC event in America with a full house, since the pandemic began. The fan favourite Florida-based Masvidal will be hoping to pull off an upset in front of his home crowd.

Elsewhere, Colby Covington the number one ranked welterweight contender, who lost to Usman in a war at UFC 245, spoke to the Schmo explaining how he was supposed to be the stand-by fighter at UFC 261, but was denied the chance because Usman and Masvidal were ‘terrified’ of him.

Also adding that he was ready to fight if anything happened in the next 12 hours, The Chaos said:

“They did ask me to weigh in. But, Marty Fake Newsman and Jorge Masvidal are terrified of me. So they want nothing to do with me. They said, ‘No, we won’t fight him, even if it’s on 24 hours notice, we don’t want to fight him – it’s a style-matchup change’.”

Winner at UFC 261 to take on Colby Covington – Dana White confirms

UFC 245 witnessed one of the greatest fights in the history of the welterweight division, as Usman and Covington put on an absolute show, with Usman winning via. TKO towards the very end of the fight.

Kamaru Usman beat Colby Covington (L) at UFC 245 (Image credit: Getty)

Ever since that night, talks of a rematch between the two have been rife, with Covington calling out Usman whenever he got the chance to do so.

And now, UFC President Dana White has confirmed that whoever wins between Masvidal and Usman at UFC 261 will fight ‘The Chaos’.

White told Yahoo Sports:

“It’s one of the greatest fights I’ve ever seen. I don’t know what happened timing-wise or whatever that, that fight couldn’t happen, but it will. If he wins this weekend, Colby’s next.” [via GiveMeSport]