Colby Covington has been no stranger to getting under his opponent's skin. It appears his latest attempt is by claiming Kamaru Usman was almost stripped of his welterweight title.

Colby Covington says that his title rematch against Kamaru Usman wasn't supposed to happen. They had to push hard to get the rematch.

“It’s been such a journey,” Covington told ESPN (transcribed by MMA Fighting). “It’s been tough. It wasn’t supposed to happen. They did not want it to happen. His manager, they were refusing. They were trying to find every way in the book out of fighting this rematch. They didn’t want this fight and the only reason they have to take it is the UFC gave them no choice. They said, ‘Hey, you fight this fight or we strip you. It’s one or the other. You’ve got to come out and prove you’re the best in the world. There needs to be no controversy surrounding this fight.’ So it’s been tough.”

Colby Covington apparently had trouble booking a fight back as he says no one wanted to fight him. The beef with Kamaru Usman was a big driving factor in a rematch.

“The fact is no one wanted to fight me,” Covington continued. “Go to Hunter Campbell, go to Dana White, ask them the truth. No one would fight me. ‘Street Judas’ Masvidal, they wanted to make this big hype fight, best friends turned rivals who hate each other’s guts now. He was running his mouth in the media saying all this and that, ‘I’ll drop Colby on sight, that guy’s fragile, blah blah blah.’ I was trying to put on the biggest and best fights for the UFC. No one wanted to take the bait so now we are here and we get the best fight in the welterweight division and it’s gonna be a real treat for the fans.”

Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman are set to clash at UFC 268 in a highly anticipated rematch. The Champion won the first fight by TKO in the fifth round of a very exciting contest.