By The Numbers: Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington

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Kamaru Usman, in the midst of a transcendent title reign, once again finds himself paired with a man much of the mixed martial arts world loves to hate.

“The Nigerian Nightmare” will defend his undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight crown when he rematches Colby Covington in the UFC 268 main event on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York. Usman, who stopped Covington on a fifth-round technical knockout a little less than two years ago, enters the cage on a remarkable 18-fight winning streak. He last appeared at UFC 264, where he punched out American Top Team’s Jorge Masvidal in the second round of their April 24 rematch. Covington, meanwhile, has won eight of his last nine bouts. He last competed Sept. 19, 2020, when he was awarded a technical knockout against former champion Tyron Woodley in the fifth round of their UFC Fight Night 178 headliner.

As Usman and Covington move ever closer to their second confrontation, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:

34: Years of age for Usman, who was born on May 11, 1987 in Auchi, Nigeria.

9: Usman wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 47% of his career total (19). His list of UFC victims: Covington, Masvidal, Gilbert Burns and Sergio Moraes. Usman holds one other win by submission—he dismissed Hayder Hassan with a second-round arm-triangle choke at “The Ultimate Fighter 21” Finale in 2015—and nine more by decision.

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1,041: Significant strikes landed by Usman as a UFC welterweight, placing him sixth on the promotion’s all-time list at 170 pounds. Only Georges St. Pierre (1,254), Neil Magny (1,174), Robbie Lawler (1,111), Thiago Alves (1,070) and Tim Means (1,043) have connected on more.

3,088: Days since Usman suffered his lone professional defeat, submitting to a rear-naked choke from Jose Caceres at a Championship Fighting Alliance show on May 24, 2013.

10: Consecutive calendar years in which Usman has fought at least once, including a 2-0 mark in 2021. He went 1-0 in 2012, 1-1 in 2013, 3-0 in 2014, 2-0 in 2015, 2-0 in 2016, 2-0 in 2017, 3-0 in 2018, 2-0 in 2019 and 1-0 in 2020.

33: Years of age for Covington, who was born on Feb. 22, 1988 in Clovis, California.

4: Covington victories by submission, accounting for 25% of his career total (16). His methods of choice: two rear-naked chokes and two arm-triangle chokes. Covington owns four other victories by knockout or technical knockout and eight more by decision.

5: Countries in which Covington has competed as a mixed martial artist. He has gone 11-2 in the United States, 2-0 in Brazil, 1-0 in China, 1-0 in Canada and 1-0 in Singapore.

61: Takedowns completed by Covington, tying him with Johny Hendricks and Khabib Nurmagomedov for the 10th-highest total in UFC history. They trail St. Pierre (90), Gleison Tibau (84), Demetrious Johnson (74), Frankie Edgar (70), Clay Guida (70), Nik Lentz (69), Demian Maia (68), Merab Dvalishvili (63) and Curtis Blaydes (62).

3: Octagon assignments in which Covington has landed at least 150 total strikes. He connected with 161 of them in a third-round technical knockout of Max Griffin at UFC 202 on Aug. 20, 2016, 201 of them in a unanimous decision over Robbie Lawler at UFC on ESPN 5 on Aug. 3, 2019 and 232 of them in his aforementioned stoppage of Woodley at UFC Fight Night 178.