Kamaru Usman has spent close to fifty minutes in the Octagon with Colby Covington and Tyron Woodley. The former champ and the former challenger are now set to face each other. Ahead of their fight, Kamaru Usman is one of the most qualified fighters to breakdown their pairing.

“This is an intriguing fight. I love this fight,” Usman said about the matchup during the UFC Vegas 9 post-fight show (via MMA Fighting). “This is a grudge match that should have happened a long time ago.

“Somebody came through and kind of ruined those plans but the fight is still happening now.”

Usman was obviously referring to himself as the one who played jinxed their meeting. When Tyron Woodley held the UFC welterweight belt, Colby Covington was, arguably, the biggest threat to him. However, call it fate or something else, the two never collided inside the Octagon. Instead, Usman fought and defeated Woodley, thus playing the spoiler.

The two former teammates are now set to collide later this month.

“I think that this is the best and possibly the worst-case scenario for Tyron Woodley,” Usman said. “As far as style matchups, I think this is probably one of the worst stylistic matchups for him after coming off back-to-back fights with guys that love kind of pressure him. Guys that can grapple as well and guys that kind of throw some volume.”

Kamaru Usman discusses the secret weapon of Tyron Woodley

Covington’s style of pressure fighting is what has been troubling for Woodley in his last couple of fights. On top of that, ‘Chaos’ has an incredibly deep gas tank that allows him to ragdoll opponents throughout the fight.

While the odds will favor Covington, Usman believes Woodley has a potent weapon that can come in handy against a southpaw like Colby.

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“On the flip side, this is a tremendous matchup for Tyron Woodley because Tyron Woodley is a specialist when it comes to dealing with southpaws,” Usman said. “He knows how to angle off, to kind of guide them into that big right hand that he has.”

It was the same big right hand that dropped former champ Robbie Lawler and helped Woodley win the belt. Being in the slump that he is right now, Woodley will hope of a similar result to turn things around in his career.