Kenny Florian has a feeling that Colby Covington will get the job done against Kamaru Usman.
On Dec. 14, Covington will challenge Usman for the UFC welterweight championship. The 170-pound title bout will take place inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’ll serve as UFC 245’s main event.
During the latest edition of the Anik & Florian Podcast, “KenFlo” admitted that he doesn’t think Usman fought the best version of Tyron Woodley when he won the welterweight gold.
“I think that Usman’s a tremendous fighter but I have a hard time believing that was the best Tyron Woodley out there on fight night,” Florian said of Usman ahead of his title showdown with Colby Covington. “He didn’t look right mentally, he didn’t look right physically to me. Coming off that surgery, that was not what Tyron Woodley truly offers in a championship fight. Not to take away from Usman’s performance and it was phenomenal, I just think he fought him at the right time and was able to take advantage of that.”
The former UFC fighter went on to say that he’s leaning towards Covington taking the title from Usman.
“If you asked me before Colby’s fight against Robbie Lawler who I think would win, I would say Kamaru Usman very confidently,” Florian continued. “Now I’m leaning towards Colby Covington. I just think that the kind of pace that he put on Robbie Lawler and me expecting him to eventually get tired, and that just never took place. The improvement in his striking was significant enough for me to say that he has better striking than Kamaru Usman. The way that he was putting together the combinations, the way that he looked way more technical. Again, I haven’t seen a performance like that as far as conditioning-wise in a very long time. Khabib will just straight outwrestle you and put out a pace on the ground, but I haven’t seen a pace like that on the feet and on the ground with the wrestling. I was super impressed with Colby Covington’s performance. Hate him or love him, that guy has improved as a martial artist.”
Who do you give the edge to going into the UFC 245 main event between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 11/22/2019.