Colby Covington’s desperation to win UFC gold came at quite the cost after an X-ray revealed the damage that was caused to his jaw during his UFC 245 main event defeat.

Covington was vanquished by the ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ Kamaru Usman on Saturday night.

Covington had told his coaches that he had suffered an injury to his jaw after the third round. The UFC later confirmed these suspicions via a medical report.

The report stated that Covington had suffered a “non-displaced midline mandible fracture”, a broken jaw in layman’s terms.

Despite having broken his jaw, Covington battled through to the final round. After being dropped to the canvas twice by Usman, the referee stopped the bout with just 50 seconds remaining on the clock.

Covington has won some plaudits despite the defeat, thanks to the mental and physical toughness he had to have to get through the final two rounds having broken his jaw.

Even UFC president Dana White, who has said to have a strained relationship with Colby, spoke out about his pride, praising his grit, determination and his desire to continue the fight.

He said: “To have a broken jaw in almost the second or third round and almost finish the fight is pretty fight.

“So for as big as his mouth is and all the stuff that he talks, the guy can fight. He’s talented and he’s tough.

“He came in here with a game plan tonight.”

Covington is expected to be out of action for the next six months, but White has already revealed who he wants to match him against once he returns.

“I’d love to do him and (Tyron) Woodley next,” said White. “That would be a fun fight, but if [Covington] has a broken jaw, he ain’t going to be around for a minute.

“After a war like this, he’s going to have to go rest, take care of himself for a while and then we’ll see what he wants to do.”