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Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington set, UFC 245 now has three title fights

The UFC plans on ending the year with a bang.

A long-discussed matchup between UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and former interim titleholder Colby Covington has finally been made official and will be held at UFC 245 on Dec. 14 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

MMAJunkie confirmed an initial Friday report by ESPN through a source with knowledge of the situation. The source also said the fight is expected to headline the card.

The announcement of the welterweight title matchup means that the card now features three title fights. In addition to Usman-Covginton, Max Holloway will defend his featherweight belt against Alexander Volkanovski, and Amanda Nunes will defend her bantamweight belt against former featherweight champ Germaine de Randamie.

Usman (15-1 MMA, 10-0 UFC) has been on a sensational run through one of the sport’s most talent-rich divisions. Since busting onto the scene by winning “The Ultimate Fighter 21” tournament, no one has come close to defeating Usman, whose slow-but-steady rise to the top culminated in a thoroughly one-sided unanimous-decision victory over Tyron Woodley to claim the belt at UFC 235.

Covington (15-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC), for his part, finally gets a shot he’s believed he’s deserved for the past year and a half. Covington defeated former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos to win an interim welterweight crown at UFC 225.

But from there, he ran into trouble getting his expected title shot. When Covington balked at a UFC 228 unification bout with Woodley, the UFC stripped him of the interim belt and made a Woodley-Darren Till fight instead.

Covington returned to action in August and scored an impressive victory over former welterweight champion Robbie Lawler to score his seventh straight win. After attempts to make a UFC 244 fight with Usman, who had been out following double hernia surgery, fell apart, Covington complained that he was being treated unfairly by the UFC.

The latest UFC 245 card now includes:

  • Colby Covington vs. Kamaru Usman – for welterweight title
  • Max Holloway vs. Alexander Volkanovski – for featherweight title
  • Amanda Nunes vs. Germaine de Randamie – for women’s bantamweight title
  • Robbie Lawler vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
  • Jessica Eye vs. Viviane Araujo
  • Matt Brown vs. Ben Saunders
  • Kai Kara-France vs. Sergio Pettis
  • Oskar Piechota vs. Punahele Soriano

MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month for April: One former UFC champ makes another tap for the first time

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from April 2024: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month award for April. At the bottom of the post, let us know...

Paul Hughes explains choosing PFL over UFC offer: ‘I deserve to get compensated’

Fighters are often criticized for failing to prioritize their financial interests in their MMA careers, but no such accusation can be made toward Irish prospect Paul Hughes. Hughes (11-1), a former Cage Warriors champion, just went through the process of free agency and had bids on the table from...

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