The recently dethroned UFC welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman, has revealed his take on the devastating knockout that cost him the belt. On The Joe Rogan Experience, Usman described the “20 minute nap” and praised his opponent for capitalizing on the late opportunity.
“I wanted to throw with conviction like I did with [Jorge] Masvidal and get him out of there. What I’m going to do is shake left, shake right and then I’m going to let it go, but I’ve got to get him moving first, and I didn’t do a great job of that.
Kamaru Usman On His Disorienting “20 Minute Nap” at UFC 278
I’m moving, moving, OK, I’ve got him set up, which I really didn’t. I shake left. I shake right. I’m sitting in an ambulance and they’re asking me, ‘Do you know where you’re at?’ I’m like, ‘What the f***?’” Usman watched the fight back, and discussed his snap back to consciousness.
“I was good. I watched the fight over, I’m good. I was talking, I talked to Trevor [Wittman, coach], I talked to everyone, because you know you go back and then you go in the medical tent and they take care of you and all of that. I talked to my family, I hugged everyone, because it was on video and everything. I remember sitting. It was like, Leon gave me a 20-minute nap.
I was laughing hysterically in the hospital because I had to go in to get scanned and all of that, which everything was fine. Immediately I come to, I’m in the ambulance, they’re asking, ‘Do you know where you are?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, Salt Lake City. UFC 278.’ They’re like, ‘What’s your date of birth?’ I answer them. They’re like, ‘Wow, perfect.’ I answered everything perfectly.”
Before UFC 278, Kamaru Usman had never been taken down. Early in the fight, Leon Edwards not only took Usman down, but took his back, almost managing to submit the champ, who was at the time the no.1 ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
“In the first round, the fight is going on and boom, that situation happens. He hooked my leg, and this is my bad knee — both of them aren’t the greatest — so I’m like, OK let me hip him through. I tried to hip him through but he had great position, kudos to him, and I get taken down. That I was probably more upset about, giving up that takedown. I was like, ‘F***! I gave up a takedown.’”
What was your reaction to Usman’s “20 minute nap”? Let u sknow in the comments.
