UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman has given his thoughts on the recent Miami assault incident between Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington.

Back at UFC 272, Colby Covington defeated Jorge Masvidal in their main event grudge match to cement his position as the second best 170-pounder in the sport. A few weeks later, however, Colby’s trash talk came back to bite him when he was allegedly assaulted by Masvidal at a steakhouse in Florida.

Covington has opted to push forward with pressing charges against his former best friend whereas ‘Gamebred’ doesn’t appear to have too much remorse for what may or may not have happened.

Kamaru Usman, who knows a thing or two about both men, weighed in during a recent Instagram Live.

“Now [Masvidal] facing counts, and now you could potentially go away,” Usman added. “So that’s the unfortunate nature of the situation. I don’t like it. Both guys, I believe, are in the wrong. You can’t just do what you want and say what you want just because you want to sell something, and I feel that’s wrong – very wrong.

“But also, you can’t go as an athlete – as an elite athlete, you’re one of the best athletes in the world – you can’t just go attacking somebody in the street. Yeah, I understand it’s another athlete, but you can’t just do that when it’s outside of competition. So both guys took a big ‘L’ on that one. [I] pray for both, though. [I] hope they’re OK.”

The Usman effect

Kamaru Usman has fought Jorge Masvidal twice and Colby Covington twice. Across those four outings, he has been able to register a 4-0 record - taking his total in MMA to 20-1.

A TKO triumph over Covington in a Fight of the Year contender was followed up by a fairly uneventful decision win against Masvidal.

Alas, when he got a second chance at Jorge, he took his opportunity by knocking the veteran out cold in Jacksonville.

His last fight was a unanimous decision win against Covington in the rematch and at this stage, it’s pretty hard to deny Kamaru’s position as the pound for pound best in the game.