5 biggest winners from UFC 268: Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington 2

#2. Rose Namajunas – defeated Weili Zhang to retain the UFC strawweight title

Rose Namajunas should be considered the UFC's strawweight GOAT after her second win over Weili Zhang

There were definitely a number of UFC fans who felt that the strawweight title rematch between Rose Namajunas and Weili Zhang was unnecessary.

After all, Zhang had been knocked out badly by Namajunas in their first bout and wasn’t really a legendary champion who warranted an instant rematch.

However, the UFC decided to go in that direction. In the end, the two women produced an excellent – and far more competitive – second bout that ended with Namajunas doing just enough to pick up the win.

With her victory last night, it’s hard to dispute the idea that ‘Thug Rose’ is the greatest strawweight in UFC history. Not only is she the only woman to hold the UFC strawweight title on two occasions, but she’s also got two wins over both Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

Who is next for her? With any luck, it’ll be Carla Esparza. ‘The Cookie Monster’ is currently on a five-fight winning streak and has more than earned a shot at the title she lost in early 2015.

More to the point, Esparza won the inaugural UFC strawweight title bout back in 2014 by defeating Namajunas – meaning that a rematch would give ‘Thug Rose’ a chance to avenge that loss.

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#1. Kamaru Usman – defeated Colby Covington to retain the UFC welterweight title

Kamaru Usman defeated Colby Covington for the second time - hopefully ending their rivalry for good

The biggest winner at UFC 268 was undoubtedly Kamaru Usman. The reigning UFC welterweight champion made the fifth successful defense of his title by outpointing his bitter rival Colby Covington, hopefully ending their feud for good.

Unlike in their first fight at UFC 245, Usman couldn’t put Covington away, despite having ‘Chaos’ hurt badly in the second round. If anything, Covington actually did better in this fight than he did the first time around, clearly winning the fourth and perhaps the fifth rounds.

However, based on the damage Usman did early on, there was no disputing that ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ was the better fighter – something even Covington appeared to accept when all was said and done.

Who’s next for Usman? Most likely, it’ll be Leon Edwards if he can get past Jorge Masvidal at UFC 269. If he can’t, then it becomes a very interesting question, with the UFC likely to be tempted to fast-track super-prospect Khamzat Chimaev into a title bout.

Either way, UFC President Dana White probably isn’t too far off in proclaiming ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ as the greatest welterweight of all time.

Even if he hasn’t matched the accomplishments of Georges St-Pierre, it’s arguable that he’s equally as dominant as ‘Rush’ was in his heyday. This was one of his biggest victories yet – making him UFC 268’s top performer.