Colby Covington called Kamaru Usman a "boring fighter" and "the ultimate footsie champion" after he defended his welterweight title with an unanimous decision victory over Jorge Masvidal at UFC 251.
The judges scored it 50-45, 50-45, 49-46 in favour of Usman after five rounds whereby he demonstrated his impressive grappling and wrestling prowess, but the Nigerian Nightmare came under criticism from fans for the manner in which he won.
And Covington, who was stopped by Usman in their title fight at UFC 245 in November but still claims the fight was ended prematurely, ripped into his rival after his latest victory - specifically referring to the amount of foot-stomping he was doing in the bout.
"I learned a lot from that fight, and I learned a lot from the first time I fought Mary Fakenewsman," Covington said on Submission Radio, as per the Mac Life.
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"I've made a lot of adjustments in my game. Like I said, Colby 'Chaos' Covington 2.0 is coming back and you haven't seen the best of me yet. Just another element, fold in the wrinkle that I got to see Marty Fake Newsman go to work.
"He's a boring fighter, that's why they call him Snoozeman. He puts fans to sleep. He's out there playing footsie, he's the ultimate footsie champion, he's stomping on his foot the whole time, he's hugging him against the cage, whispering stupid shit in Street Judas' ear the whole time. Who wants to see that shit? That shit's not entertaining, I feel bad for whoever bought the pay-per-view."
The outspoken Covington wants a rematch with Usman but said he would fight Masvidal, who he branded a "journeyman" and an "easy fight" for him to take.
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He added: "I don't need to fight him to prove my greatness in this organisation. My legacy won't be defined by fighting journeymen like him. I could care less if I ever fight him, I'm gonna get my rematch with Marty Fakenewsman.
"I'd fight [Masvidal] for free. That's the easiest money fight I could ever get. ... It's such an easy fight, I don't need any money to fight that guy. Of course, I'd sign that fight."
Usman, meanwhile, addressed the disapproval of his display inside the Octagon and made a comparison with undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather, who won a slew of fights through his innate defensive skills in the ring.
"Well maybe they need to get in there and fight Jorge Masvidal for 25 minutes and then say something," Usman said in his post-fight press conference, as per Metro.
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"That's the thing, there was a time when people started hating Floyd Mayweather because he was so dominant. 'Floyd's defence was so good, he was so good at what he did. 'Oh, that's boring, he's not fighting'" because people want to see a bar fight? 'We're risking our lives in there. And we've trained.
"What was the point of training each and every day and then go in there for a slug fest? 'You can train to be able to make someone miss and control them in a certain way.
"That's what training is for, so you're not in there taking punishment at will. I do that better than anybody."
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Topics: Colby Covington, Jorge Masvidal, UFC News, MMA News, UFC, MMA, Kamaru Usman