JORGE MASVIDAL has tipped Kamaru Usman to put a 'thorough beating' on Colby Covington in their eagerly-anticipated grudge match.
The dominant welterweight champion is set to defend his crown in a rematch with his bitter rival later this year.
Covington took the destructive Usman to the fifth round in their UFC 245 showdown in December 2019 but ended up being TKO'd in the final stanza.
And Masvidal – who was brutally knocked out by Africa's first UFC titleholder at UFC 261 – foresees Usman closing the book his rivalry with Chaos in even more emphatic fashion.
He told ESPN: "I think Kamaru keeps his hands up and comes to fight Colby the same fight that he did the first time. He just puts a thorough beating on him.
"Colby will try and get some takedowns on him, and it might not work.
"Colby’s gas tank with other wrestlers is not something he wants to do.
"That’s why he didn’t take a shot in the first fight, because he knows he’s going to have to get tired."
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Gamebred, 36, reckons the fight is Usman's to lose so long as he's conditioned to wrestle and adopts the same approach he used for his first clash with the former interim 170lb champion.
He said: "As long as Kamaru is in wrestling shape and comes in the same as the first time, hands up, pressuring him, I think he breaks him again.
"His hands are where they need to be at right now.
"I bet he’s going to have more confidence than ever because he knows I’m somebody that’s never been finished.
"So he can definitely take that with a pride of honour, put his hard head on, keep getting the work.
"I think he gets a finish on Colby."
Covington was cageside for Usman's demolition of Masvidal but wasn't blown away by what he saw of The Nigerian Nightmare.
During an appearance on What the Heck, he said: “I wasn’t impressed with that fight.
“If anything, I saw a lot of weaknesses in his game. Of course, the media’s not gonna talk about the weaknesses.
"They want to just talk about the strength and this crazy knockout, and this and that, and this new evolved game of his, but I saw him get tired in that first round.
“He was swinging heavy, and he got in the wrestling exchange and he was tired when he got back to his feet.
"If he fights me like that, I promise you it will be, ‘And new.’”
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