Usman Surprised Covington Accepted Lawler Bout: 'Goes to Show You Who Is in Power'

Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champion Kamaru Usman is currently sidelined until the end of the year while he recovers from double hernia surgery. Before his temporary withdrawal from competition, it was expected that his next challenger would be the former interim champ Colby Covington.

"Chaos" made news this week after first declaring that he was assured a title shot by UFC brass, then quickly accepting a non-title fight against Robbie Lawler for August 3 in Newark, New Jersey.

Usman spoke to TMZ Sports recently and expressed surprise over his mouthy foe's decision to accept a non-championship matchup. "Agh. I literally just smacked my head," Usman exclaimed. "Like, this kid f---s it up again. Again. I said from the start, this was gonna be his fight to mess up, and that's exactly what he just did."

"The Nigerian Nightmare" has his suspicions as to why Covington opted to face Lawler for no belt instead of waiting on Usman for a shot at gold, but ultimately, the champ is nonplussed about who is next opponent will be.

"At the end of the day, this is not me saying 'Oh, I don't want to fight him.' I definitely want to fight him. People might say, 'Oh, you're ducking Colby Covington,' his three fans who continuously try to pester me every day. There's no one right now in the world I would love to punch more or hurt more than him. Him or Ben Askren. Either one. I don't really care, doesn't matter. But for him to take that, it just goes to show you who is in power. It's not him and it's not me. I mean, I have a little say, but there's a bigger machine that controls everything."