Sports

#UFC268: Kamaru Usman beats Colby Covington to retain welterweight title

Published

2 years ago

November 7, 2021

It was a theme of repeat at UFC 268 as Kamaru Usman stopped Colby Covington to defend his welterweight title whilst Rose Namajunas outpointed Weili Zhang to defend her strawweight belt..

The main event between Usman and Covington had a tentative beginning with little action taking place in the first round.

Usman was measured in his striking and was landing the harder shots as he dropped Covington twice at the end of the second stanza.

Covington looked deflated on his stool but had a much better third round, upping his striking output and beginning to land on the champion.

The challenger’s success continued into the fourth round as the fight started to heat up with Covington landing a big uppercut at the bell.

Covington likely needed a finish heading into the final round, but Usman controlled the pace and did enough to earn the unanimous decision nod.The opening round saw little action, with Zhang eventually slamming Namajunas to the mat and following up with ground and pound as ‘Thug’ defended well.

Zhang was peppering away with leg kicks and stunned Namajunas with a left hand in round two. A scramble at the end of the third round saw Zhang mount Namajunas just as the bell sounded.

Namajunas had a better fourth round scrambling well on the mat to end up on top of Zhang and chip away with short shots.

The final round saw Namajunas take Zhang down and control her for the entire round, doing enough to earn the split decision.

Former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar suffered another KO loss as Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera picked up one of the biggest wins of his carer.

Edgar worked well on the inside against Vera in the opening round and utilised his superior wrestling against the Ecuadorian.

Vera stunned Edgar with a flying knee in the second round, but ‘The Answer’ recovered well and fired back with shots of his own.

As it seemed Vera would be cruising to a decision win, he split the guard of Edgar with a front kick that dropped the former champion and concluded the fight.

Contender Series standout Billy Quarantillo faced a big step up in competition against Shane Burgos, but would come up short against the ranked featherweight.

Quarantillo opened up with a hectic pace the two men stood toe-to-toe and traded in the pocket for the whole round.

Burgos has Quarantillo badly hurt at the end of the second round as Quarantillo could barely stand on his injured left leg.

Quarantillo’s leg impeded him for the entirety of the third round as he desperately tried to take the fight to the mat.

Burgos capitalised on Quarantillo’s injury to dictate the pace and steer the fight in his favour.

Opening the main card was a three-round barnburner between Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler, as Gaethje won by unanimous decision in a Fight of the Year contender.

After the opening bell sounded, the two stood in the pocket throwing with reckless abandon.

Chandler had Gaethje hurt as he pressed for the finish, but the chin of Gaethje held up as he turned the tide by hurting Chandler as the epic first round came to a close.

Gaethje dropped Chandler in the second round with an uppercut, but Chandler desperately held on to stall Gaethje’s follow up shots.

The third round was equally as violent, Chandler walking through Gaethje’s punches and calling for more from the former champion.

Despite being thrown to the mat on his head, Gaethje finished the fight on top as the two embraced at the final bell.