Colby Covington suffered significant injuries in his first shot at the undisputed UFC championship.
The polarizing American fighter has never held the top prize on MMA’s biggest stage, and that’s despite having three opportunities to do so.
Covington’s first shot was on this date, the 14th of December in 2019. After a brief reign as interim champ, ‘Chaos’ would go on to challenge Kamaru Usman at UFC 245.
The event at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena provided a memorable conclusion to the UFC’s pay-per-view schedule for that year, with Usman and Covington putting on a war in the main event.
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Kamaru Usman broke Colby Covington’s jaw in UFC 245 war
Covington and Usman went the distance after Alexander Volkanovski defeated Max Holloway at UFC 245 in their co-headliner five-round bout.
Marc Goddard, the defending champion, intervened less than one minute after Usman had dropped hammerfists to Covington, who was on the floor.
There was certainly damage before the ending sequence. That included a broken chin. Slow-mo footage of one punch appeared to show the exact moment that ‘Chaos’ suffered a non-displaced midline mandible fracture. Covington, however, has denied the claim. The UFC confirmed that the injury occurred after the match.
Covington, who beat Rafael dos Anjos to win the interim title at 170 pounds in the two years before, suffered a similar injury. He said that he wouldn’t wish it on anyone. “worst enemy.”
“I’ve had that injury before,” Dos Anjos told Ag Fight. “I don’t know how serious it is, but you need a strong mentality in order to come back from that.
“I really hope he fights again and doesn’t retire. I’ve seen many fighters retire after that injury. It’s something I don’t wish for my worst enemy.
“It took me six months just to begin training again, I remember how I was,”He continued. “It took me about 10 months to fight again, almost one year.”
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2025-12-14 17:00:00
