Ever since Kamaru Usman secured the welterweight crown in March, the consensus has been that he’ll battle his rival, Colby Covington next. But, recently Ben Askren opined that if he defeats Jorge Masvidal at UFC 239, he could be next for Usman. Is the vaunted wrestler and decorated welterweight onto something?
Covington has been knocking on the title shot door for some time now, and after he won the interim belt last June by defeating Rafael dos Anjos, a showdown with Woodley seemed like a lock. But, Covington opted to pass on a September fight with Woodley due to pending nasal surgery. Woodley eventually lost to Usman in March, and afterward, it was reported “Chaos” would be the first to challenge the new champ.
Well, recently Askren spoke with MMA Fighting. While talking about his July 6th bout with Masvidal, and whether he could leap past Colby for a title shot, Askren said this:
“I think it is [possible],” Askren said. “I don’t think people are too into Colby’s schtick anymore. They realize it’s old, it’s washed up, it’s just not that exciting. The guy is doing one of these things where you sit out and wait for a title fight and that is something I will never, ever do.
“How long ago was Colby’s last fight? Last June? What is this mother—ker going to sit out for 16 months and expect to get a title shot? The only way to stay relevant in this sport is to stay in there and keep getting after it. So yeah, if I go beat up Jorge, I’m going to have a lot more momentum. And if “Marty” (Kamaru Usman) wants to make some money, I’m sure “Marty” has a pay-per-view clause in his contract, you’re damn sure that I’m going to sell a whole bunch more pay-per-views against him than Colby would.”
Now, if you believe that Covington’s title shot is locked in right now, you haven’t been paying close attention to the MMA world in recent years. As we’ve seen many times, title shots that have been verbally granted, can easily be withdrawn over disagreements on pay, date, location etc.
So, if Askren does go out and scores an emphatic win over Masvidal, and if Usman makes it clear he’d rather fight “Funky”, Askren could indeed be next. After all, when it was announced Covington was going to challenge Usman, it likely wasn’t known the champ would be sidelined this long due to injury. As Askren mentioned, Colby hasn’t fought yet in 2019, and talk about “Chaos” does seem to have dropped off.
That said, there’s a very good chance Covington will make sure he’s front-and-center during UFC 239 fight week, as he did for UFC 235. At the time, his antics appeared to pay off.
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