Thompson: Usman schooled Covington

Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson believes that Kamaru Usman dominated Colby Covington in December's championship tilt at UFC 245.

"I thought it was just a schooling from Usman," Thompson told theScore. "The first round, I thought it could have gone either way. But from the second round onwards it was all Usman. A lot of people didn't expect (Usman staying calm) - we expected him to get a little bit emotional and try to finish that guy in the first. Usman is the champ for a reason."

Usman finished Covington in the fifth round and handed "Chaos" the first knockout loss of his career. Some pundits considered the fight to be close heading into the final round, including judge Sal D'Amato, who had Covington up three rounds to one.

"One of the judges had Colby Covington winning the majority of the rounds, which is stupid," Thompson said. "I'm like, 'Are you kidding me? Who is this guy? So I can poke him in the eye.'

"It wasn't close at all. If you go back and watch, Usman definitely landed the more power shots. Colby Covington was throwing a lot of volume but not a whole lot was landing."

After the fight, Covington criticized referee Marc Goddard, saying he'd stopped it too early. Thompson disagreed and felt the referee's call was justified.

"I thought it was a good stoppage," Thompson said. "If it went on longer, Colby Covington could have been seriously injured. Because he was knocked down twice in that round. I know he didn't like the way it was stopped, but that's Colby."