UFC 245: 3 reasons why Kamaru Usman defeated Colby Covington

#3 Usman’s chin was made of granite

Usman's chin absorbed the best shots that Covington was able to throw

Prior to last night’s fight, Kamaru Usman had beaten ten straight opponents inside the UFC’s Octagon, and truthfully, none of them had really pushed him that hard. Lower-level foes like Hayder Hassan and Sean Strickland were simply steamrolled, while tougher opponents like Demian Maia, Rafael Dos Anjos and Tyron Woodley simply couldn’t stop his pressure game.

That meant that we had one big question about ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’: how good was his chin? Well, judging by last night’s fight, it turns out it’s pretty solid. Usman went toe-to-toe with Colby Covington for five straight rounds, and while he largely outstruck ‘Chaos’, he also took plenty of big strikes too.

The second round saw him stunned momentarily by a right hook, and a couple of combinations landed by Covington in the fourth appeared to hurt him too – but all the while, Usman stood strong in the firing line. He never shot for a desperation takedown, his legs never buckled, and Covington never came close to putting him away.

Admittedly, Covington isn’t the concussive puncher that say, Santiago Ponzinibbio or Jorge Masvidal is, but then those fighters would struggle more than ‘Chaos’ against Usman’s wrestling game.

After last night there are zero questions around ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’, and judging by the evidence, we could be looking at the most dominant Welterweight since the great Georges St. Pierre.