Colby Covington Accuses Kamaru Usman Of Using EPO For His Entire MMA Career

Mandatory Credit: Chris Unger - Zuffa LLC

Former interim UFC welterweight champion, Colby Covington has accused upcoming opponent, Kamaru Usman of utilizing the banned substance erythropoietin (EPO) for his entire career as a professional mixed martial artist.

Covington rematches Usman in the main event of UFC 268 on November 6. -- with Madison Square Garden in New York City currently targeted to host the pay-per-view showcase. The pair initially met at UFC 245 back in December 2019 where Usman scored the first successful defence of his title with an eventual fifth round knockout over Covington.

In the time since Covington has featured just once in the Octagon -- taking home an eventual fifth round TKO win over former welterweight kingpin and common-foe, Tyron Woodley last September at UFC Vegas 11, when the St. Louis native suffered a rib injury during a grappling transition. 

Ahead of his championship re-run with Usman, Covington, who plys his trade at MMA Masters in Florida, claimed that through mutual acquaintances, he was made aware the Auchi-native -- who once trained under the Sanford MMA banner, had been utilising EPO his entire career. 

"He's (Kamaru Usman) been doing EPO (erythropoietin) his whole career," Covington said during a recent interview with Submission Radio. "It's so obvious. His chemical imbalance, his body -- he's got pimples all over his back, all over his face. You're (Usman) a 35-year-old man. You're not going through puberty like you're in your teens anymore. You should not be having that chemical imbalance and that breakout. That's from his testosterone being out of whack, and his estrogen and his testosterone levels being out of whack. So he is the CEO of EPO."

"I've heard firsthand from some people that he trained with, some people that I might've went to wrestle in college with that said the same thing," Covington continued. "They could verify that he has done EPO and he's injected in his ass. So he's the CEO of EPO. He's 'Marty Juiceman'"

In a recent high-profile anti-doping violation, the recent returner, former two-time bantamweight champion, T.J. Dillashaw was slapped with a two-year suspension by anti-doping agency, USADA after he returned a test sample which contained the banned substance, EPO following his January 2019 knockout loss to Henry Cejudo at UFC Fight Night Brooklyn.

Whilst reigning welterweight champion, Usman has never been flagged by USADA for a potential anti-doping violation, Covington claims that there are ways to avoid detection, explaining that the anti-doping agency do not test blood samples -- only testing urine samples "here and there".

"I know he's (Usman) going to be doing it," Covington said. "There's ways to get around the (anti-doping) test. They're (USADA) not blood testing. They're doing a piss test here and there. They're not going to blood test him. They're going to let him get away with it. But you've got to live with that the rest of your life. You've got to live with that on your conscience, that you had to cheat your whole way through your career. I know I'm all-natural American. I work the hard way -- you know, blue-collar. (I) earned it -- blood, sweat, and tears. This is earned to the very core, to the very root naturally."

"I didn't cheat," Covington explained. "I didn't cut corners. I took the long way to get here. So he has to live with that. He's going to have problems later in life. His organ, all that stuff's going to shut down. He's taking years off his life. But that's the choice that he has to live with. And if that's what he wants to do, that's what he's going to do. But you cannot stop destiny, and this is destiny. November 6th. is destiny. Colby 'Chaos' Covington will be the UFC welterweight champion of the world, and there's not a steroid in the world that can stop it."