{"id":317248,"date":"2019-06-24T21:13:58","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T04:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=317248"},"modified":"2019-06-24T22:54:49","modified_gmt":"2019-06-25T05:54:49","slug":"kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/","title":{"rendered":"Kamaru Usman issues statement following Covington vs Lawler booking"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It was expected that current UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman would fight former interim champ Colby Covington in his first attempted title defense.<\/p>\n<p>However, that is no longer the case as it was reported earlier this evening that Covington would be <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/breaking-colby-covington-set-to-return-at-ufc-newark-against-former-welterweight-champion-robbie-lawler\/\">returning to the cage this August in Newark against former division title holder<\/a> Robbie Lawler.<\/p>\n<p>Shortly following the rather shocking fight announcement, Kamaru Usman issued a statement to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\">ESPN\u2019s<\/a> Brett Okamoto on the booking.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Statement from UFC champ Kamaru Usman (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/USMAN84kg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@USMAN84kg<\/a>), per his manager Ali Abdelaziz (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AliAbdelaziz00?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AliAbdelaziz00<\/a>). \u201cI should be ready to go by November. Whoever Dana White says is next. He\u2019s the boss. If Askren looks good and that\u2019s who the UFC wants, he\u2019s next.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bokamotoESPN\/status\/1143362301849849861?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 25, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Statement from UFC champ Kamaru Usman, per his manager Ali Abdelaziz. \u201cI should be ready to go by November. Whoever Dana White says is next. He\u2019s the boss. If Askren looks good and that\u2019s who the UFC wants, he\u2019s next.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2019The Nigerian Nightmare\u2019 captured the UFC\u2019s coveted welterweight title by defeating Tyron Woodley via unanimous decision in April.<\/p>\n<p>Kamaru Usman will now sit and watch Colby Covington return to action for the first time since UFC 225 in June of 2018, where \u2018Chaos\u2019 defeated Rafael dos Anjos to capture the promotions interim welterweight title.<\/p>\n<p>As for Robbie Lawler, \u2018Ruthless\u2019 is coming off a controversial loss to Ben Askren at UFC 235.<\/p>\n<p>Kamaru Usman boasts a professional record of 15-1, which includes ten straight victories under the UFC banner. Usman holds notable wins over Demian Maia, Rafael dos Anjos and the aforementioned Tyron Woodley.<\/p>\n<p>Who do you think current UFC welterweight kingpin Kamaru Usman will end up fighting next? \u00a0 \u00a0Sound off in the comments section Penn Nation!<\/p>\n<p>This article first appeared on BJPENN.com June 25, 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was expected that current UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman would fight former interim champ Colby Covington in his first attempted title defense. However, that is no longer the case as it was reported earlier this evening that Covington would be returning to the cage this August in Newark against former division title holder Robbie [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54469,"featured_media":305121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[22188,10616,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Kamaru Usman issues statement following Covington vs Lawler booking | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It was expected that current UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman would fight former interim champ Colby Covington in his first attempted title defense.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kamaru Usman issues statement following Covington vs Lawler booking | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It was expected that current UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman would fight former interim champ Colby Covington in his first attempted title defense.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-25T04:13:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-06-25T05:54:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Kamaru-Usman-10.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Christopher Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/CTaylor_96\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Christopher Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Christopher Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e2f6196655bcfb7813343b184a90cfcd\"},\"headline\":\"Kamaru Usman issues statement following Covington vs Lawler booking\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-25T04:13:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-25T05:54:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/\"},\"wordCount\":266,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Colby Covington\",\"Kamaru Usman\",\"UFC\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2019\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/\",\"name\":\"Kamaru Usman issues statement following Covington vs Lawler booking | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-25T04:13:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-25T05:54:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"It was expected that current UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman would fight former interim champ Colby Covington in his first attempted title defense.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"UFC\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Kamaru Usman issues statement following Covington vs Lawler booking\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; UFC News, Results &amp; Fight Videos\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":148,\"caption\":\"| BJPenn.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e2f6196655bcfb7813343b184a90cfcd\",\"name\":\"Christopher Taylor\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/CTaylor_96\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/christopher-taylor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kamaru Usman issues statement following Covington vs Lawler booking | BJPenn.com","description":"It was expected that current UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman would fight former interim champ Colby Covington in his first attempted title defense.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kamaru Usman issues statement following Covington vs Lawler booking | BJPenn.com","og_description":"It was expected that current UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman would fight former interim champ Colby Covington in his first attempted title defense.","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/","og_site_name":"| BJPenn.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","article_published_time":"2019-06-25T04:13:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-06-25T05:54:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":399,"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Kamaru-Usman-10.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Christopher Taylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/CTaylor_96","twitter_site":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Christopher Taylor","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/"},"author":{"name":"Christopher Taylor","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e2f6196655bcfb7813343b184a90cfcd"},"headline":"Kamaru Usman issues statement following Covington vs Lawler booking","datePublished":"2019-06-25T04:13:58+00:00","dateModified":"2019-06-25T05:54:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/"},"wordCount":266,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Colby Covington","Kamaru Usman","UFC"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2019","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/","name":"Kamaru Usman issues statement following Covington vs Lawler booking | BJPenn.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-06-25T04:13:58+00:00","dateModified":"2019-06-25T05:54:49+00:00","description":"It was expected that current UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman would fight former interim champ Colby Covington in his first attempted title defense.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/kamaru-usman-issues-statement-following-covington-vs-lawler-booking\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MMA News","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"UFC","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Kamaru Usman issues statement following Covington vs Lawler booking"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","name":"| BJPenn.com","description":"MMA &amp; UFC News, Results &amp; Fight Videos","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization","name":"| BJPenn.com","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","width":600,"height":148,"caption":"| BJPenn.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e2f6196655bcfb7813343b184a90cfcd","name":"Christopher Taylor","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/CTaylor_96"],"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/christopher-taylor\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317248"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}