The fight between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington turned out to be a classic, but it didn’t play out the way most expected it to.

UFC welterweight champion Usman (16-1 MMA, 11-0 UFC) faced former UFC 170-pound interim champ Covington (15-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in the main event of this past December’s UFC 245, where both men stood toe-to-toe in the middle of the octagon and traded for 24 minutes.

Considering both men’s decorated collegiate wrestling backgrounds, it came as a surprise that two fighters that have leaned heavily on their grappling in the past, didn’t even attempt to take the fight to the ground.

Covington, who was up 3-1 on one judge’s scorecard, said he abandoned his wrestling because he felt that he was having his way with Usman on the feet before being stopped in the final minute of the fifth round in a controversial finish.

“No, I was not surprised one bit that he didn’t want to wrestle because he knows that if he wrestles a D1 all-star like me, he’s going to get exposed and he’s going to get tired, and he’s going to gas,” Covington told MMA Junkie. “The reason I didn’t implement any wrestling is I was beating him up so easily standing.

“I wobbled him in the first, the second, and the fourth. I hurt him with the head kick, got a nasty body kick on him where he was about to quit. I caught him with some good straight lefts, good hooks, good uppercuts, and had him on wobbly legs multiple times, so I was having so much success striking that I didn’t need to wrestle. I was winning the whole entire fight, so I didn’t feel like I had to switch to the wrestling.”

Both men attempted over 750 significant strikes combined, putting on an incredible pace. Covington was able to previously show off that impressive work rate in his unanimous decision win over former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler at this past August’s UFC on ESPN 5, where he broke the record for most significant strikes attempted with 515.

Covington put the pressure on Usman early but was unhappy with the officiating throughout the fight. There were numerous breaks in the action due to an eye poke and groin shot by Covington that he’s adamant did not land – and he thinks those breaks in the early rounds that he was in control of completely changed the tide of the fight.

“I noticed that when I kicked him in the liver and I was starting to put the pressure on in the second round, he didn’t like that,” Covington said. “He was ready to fold up, you could see it in his eyes. If you go freeze frame to when I kicked him in the liver and he turned around, you could see it in his eyes. He was ready to break and he was ready to quit, but when you get five minutes to recover in a fight and you get that two separate times, that’s 10 minutes of resting in a title fight. There’s no way for me to build momentum or build pressure on because he just takes breaks, and that’s cheating.”

“The rematch, there’s going to be a different game plan, a different strategy and I’m 110 percent confident that he won’t be able to stand with me.”