This Saturday, UFC fans around the world will be treated to a highly anticipated trilogy bout between Kamaru Usman and Leon Edwards. The welterweight championship c;ash is set to take place at the O2 Arena in London and promises to be an exciting event.
As we’ve seen before, unforeseen circumstances could shake things up during the week of an UFC event.
The UFC always has a backup for every title bout to ensure that the show goes on, even if someone pulls out at the last minute. While it wasn’t confirmed who the backup will be for the welterweight championship until the very last minute, the cat was out of the bag once Colby Covington stepped on the scales.
He successfully made 170lbs and put an ending to rumors he wasn’t going to be active in the UFC due to litigation he has going against Jorge Masvidal.
“I’m assuming because he’s claiming brain damage with the court case. And I know like some lawyers, like injury lawyers. And he is like, yeah, when somebody comes in claiming brain damage, like all I hear is cha-ching.”
“Like, I know that I’m going to get paid for it because you could claim like future injuries or anything like that, like stuff that’s going to happen in the future. So and the court can’t do anything like, well, we’ll wait ten years before you let you get paid or anything.”
During the press conference, Usman and Edwards were asked to share their thoughts on the matter. The reigning welterweight champion expressed surprise, saying, “This is the first time I’ve heard of that, I don’t know.” Similarly, Edwards said that he hadn’t heard anything about Colby Covington being a backup.
UFC 286 happens this weekend in the O2 arena in London, England. ESPN Pay Per View will start showing the main card in the US from 12:00 PM EST / 9:00 AM PST.