Kamaru Usman Opens as Heavy Betting Favorite Over Colby Covington

Colby Covington put on another dominant performance on Saturday night in the main event at UFC Newark, completely nullifying former welterweight champion Robbie Lawler and booking his spot for a title fight against champ Kamaru Usman. Despite the strong performance by the outspoken Covington, he’ll head into the bout against the champion as the heavy betting underdog.

BestFightOdds has listed undisputed champion Usman as the -300 favorite compared to +230 for Covington -- a $300 bet on Usman pays out $100, while placing $100 on Covington would net $230.

It didn’t take long for the pair to get into a verbal spat as Covington was invited onto the ESPN post-fight panel alongside Karyn Bryant and Rashad Evans with Usman as a special guest. The two men engaged in a war of words before security intervened.

Covington comes into the fight riding a seven-fight winning streak, including notable victories over Demian Maia, Rafael dos Anjos and Lawler. The champion Usman is coming back from injury and is on a 14-fight winning streak and has also beaten the likes of Maia and dos Anjos along the way before his dominant performance over Tyron Woodley at UFC 235 back in March to claim the belt.

The much-anticipated fight will likely take place later in the year and is rumored to be scheduled for UFC 244 in New York.