Colby Covington has vowed to make "life-altering changes" to UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman when they rematch on Saturday night.
The pair will compete for a second time at UFC 268 in Madison Square Garden this weekend, after their incredible back-and-forth scrap back in December 2019.
Judges had the fight split right down the middle heading into the final round of their bout at UFC 245, but Usman managed to drop Covington twice and injure his jaw in the closing moments to finish the fight.
And Covington has promised that it will be he who inflicts the severe injuries on Saturday night, having reclaimed his spot as number one contender by beating Tyron Woodley last year.
"He was afraid to rematch me until he got his hand forced and he had to rematch me," Covington said during an interview with MainEvent .
"So after I leave Marty motionless, unconscious on Saturday night, which by the way they say the big apple, New York City never sleeps, I guarantee they're making an exception Saturday night because I'm putting Marty to sleep."
Their fight in 2019 was an iconic bout that lived up to the pair's years-long rivalry in Las Vegas, and fans will surely be clamouring for a trilogy should Covington get the win.
Usman has dominated his three title fights since, after comprehensively beating Woodley to win the title before facing Covington.
And it appears that they are the perfect opponents for one another, although Covington believes Usman "won't want" a third fight after Saturday.
"The thing is he's not going to want the trilogy," he continued. "When I'm done with him on Saturday night, he's probably going to retire.
"He's not going to want to fight ever again. I'm going to give him life-altering changes and he'll never be the same person ever again."
Both men are renowned wrestlers with high-level amateur credentials, and made their way to the top table of MMA with their grappling.
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But neither shot for a takedown once in their first fight, instead opting to compete in what was essentially a kickboxing match in MMA gloves.
"I know I have the superior offensive wrestling," Covington explained. "There's a reason he didn't even attempt one takedown on me.
"He was afraid to wrestle with me and get in those exchanges and have to get tired and fill his muscles up with blood and then try and strike with me after that.
"There's a reason that I wrestled division I in America and he wrestled division II. There's levels to this and Saturday night I'm going to show those levels."
Covington and Usman's fight will be backed by an incredible fight card that includes the strawweight world title fight between Zhang Weili and Rose Namajunas.
The undercard will also feature a top contender bout at lightweight between Michael Chandler and Justin Gaethje and the debut of Cage Warriors welterweight champion Ian Garry.
