By the Numbers: Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington

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Colby Covington is one fighter who is always as ready to trade barbs as he is to trade blows. Count on him to do everything in his power to dethrone Kamaru Usman, who in March of this year dominated Tyron Woodley a full five rounds to snatch the Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight title. Usman and Covington will come to blows on Dec. 14 at UFC 245. Let the numbers below show the way to this thrilling title tilt.

Wins by stoppage

Usman and Covington share identical records of 15-1. The heavy-handed Usman owns six victories by KO or TKO and one by submission, whereas Covington carries two wins by KO or TKO and five by submission.

Career losses

Covington’s lone defeat was dealt by Warlley Alves, who choked him out in the first round of their UFC 194 encounter. Meanwhile, Usman suffered his one and only loss early in his career. In only his second professional fight, “The Nigerian Nightmare” was submitted by the more experienced Jose Caceres at the Florida-based Championship Fighting Alliance.

Common opponents:

Usman and Covington hold a convincing win over former UFC lightweight king, Rafael dos Anjos, but one did so more brutally than the other. The bigger Usman used his grappling and superior conditioning to dominate dos Anjos, and the intensity reflected on the judges’ scorecards (50-43, 49-45, 48-47). Fightmetric record shows he led in significant strikes landed, 130-62, and was able to score 12 takedowns.

As for Covington, he did score seven takedowns as opposed to dos Anjos’ three, but he actually trailed in significant strikes landed, 99-105. The NCAA division 1 wrestler, though, pushed the pace for the most part and eventually earned the judges’ nods (49-46, 48-47, 48-47).

Demian Maia

Once again, Usman and Covington proved dominant over a championship-caliber fighter, this time it’s former UFC welterweight title challenger Demian Maia. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace was Usman’s first big test in the UFC, and with a 66-27 lead in significant strikes landed, he passed with flying colors. After five rounds, the judges gave it to him (50-45, 49-46, 49-46).

A big left hand from Maia hurt Covington in the first round but the latter used overwhelming pressure to batter Maia and earn a unanimous decision victory (30-27, 30-26 29-27). He easily stuffed Maia’s takedowns and led in significant strikes landed, 88-53.

Warlley Alves

Covington lost to Alves via guillotine choke at 1:26 of Round 1. The Brazilian saw the opportunity as they were pressed up against the cage. Covington tried his way out of the choke by slamming Alves, but Alves hung on until he got the tap.

Usman, on the other hand, was his usual commanding self against Alves. He got close to tapping out his opponent with an arm triangle in the final round, but it’s his relentless pace, which afforded him a massive 71-25 lead in significant strikes landed, that snagged him yet another triumph via unanimous decision (30-26, 29-27, 29-28).