Kamaru Usman fights Santiago Ponzinibbio at UFC Chile on May 19, but if you watched the UFC 25th Anniversary press conference last week you could’ve been forgiven for thinking that he was set to fight Colby Covington.

Usman and Covington clashed verbally multiple times last Friday and they made no secret about the fact there is no love lost between one another. Speaking this past week on the ‘Slip n’ Dip’ podcast, Usman explained how he couldn’t bear to be around Covington even before the presser began.

“It actually started by our hotel because we were staying in the same hotel,” Usman said. “I guess they told him he couldn’t come out of his room, or he knew better than to come out of his room all week. “He was in his room the whole time, so I only saw him when we all came down at the same time to go to that press conference. That was the first time I saw him. and to be honest, he’s the one guy that I can’t be around. My heart rate just goes up and I’m ready to f***ing ready to beat up on him. “When I saw him, I told Reed [Harris] and the UFC guys that I hope they don’t think this guy is going to get anywhere near our bus, he ain’t gonna be on the same bus as us, that ain’t going to happen to happen. So they said no way and made him leave the hallway and made him leave by himself for the press conference.”

Whilst Covington was transported to the venue on his own, it didn’t take long for the two to be in close proximity of one another once again. Usman recalled how b became increasingly more confident in chirping back at him once security arrived on the scene.

“We all had to be in the back ahead of the press conference and he was trying to sit there and hope nobody saw him,” Usman said. “He was pretending like he was invisible, so I just can’t contain it when I’m around that guy, I really just want to punch a hole in his head. “I said some things to him, but he was just quiet because he knew I was going to go off if he said anything back. He was quiet and once he saw the security and the guys coming around he started getting a little lippy. You can see it on Wonderboy’s story, he started getting a little lippy because he knew the security guys would break it up. Then, once we were about to walk out, he turned on the act.”

Could a Covington vs Usman fight happen down the line? One thing for sure is that Usman wants it to happen.

Listen to the full interview: