UFC welterweight champion and pound-for-pound number one, Kamaru “The Nigerian Nightmare” Usman, reiterated that he won’t be fighting his buddy and countryman Israel Adesanya any time soon.
Usman’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, recently declared that he was pursuing a cross-divisional superfight between the two African champions, but neither champ seems particularly interested. Kamaru Usman is far more intrigued by a trip to light heavyweight or another title defense at 170 pounds.
Usman Not Interested in Adesanya, Tells Khamzat “I’ll be here waiting”
Usman told Jim Rome that he has “no interest” in taking the middleweight championship away from a fellow Nigerian. “I’ve said it before, as long as Israel Adesanya is the champion, I have no interest in going there. But when Jan Blachowicz was the champion at light heavyweight, of course, I thought it was a great matchup.
I’m not saying I would just demolish the whole light heavyweight division. I’m saying I thought that was a great matchup, and I thought that I would have been a two-time champion, and skipping middleweight and becoming the light heavyweight champion.
I’ve said it before, Adesanya’s a fellow Nigerian. A good guy. I like him, I like his approach. I’ve said it. I’d rather two Nigerians have belts than one Nigerian with two belts.”
Usman is not saying never, however. ““If Dana [White] is willing to sit us down and say, $100 million, ‘Hey guys, let’s split this up,’ at that point Israel and I would have to talk.
Because at that point, my little brother, my blood brother, we would have to talk and say, ‘Hey, let’s go out here and make this money.’”
With Usman looking more or less invincible among ranked fighters at 170 pounds, discussion of the division’s future turns to fresher faces. Chief among them is standout Chechen fighter Khamzat Chimaev, who has made a repeated point of pursuing the welterweight strap. Usman, ever the competitor, welcomes Chimaev as yet another exciting challenge, assuming he can earn his way to the top.
“There’s a reason there’s a structure to get here. So he’s done great with the opposition that he’s been presented, and by the time he gets here, once he gets here, of course we’ll have that conversation.
But I am the champion. I am the pound-for-pound best in the world. I am the king of the castle. Everybody wants a piece of me. So that’s good. I like that.
There was a time when I was coming up and I just couldn’t get those fights, I couldn’t get the next guy to step in there with me. But now that I’m at the top, I don’t have to do that.
These guys have to call me out and these guys have to come to me. When they make it up here, I’ll be here waiting.” Would you rather see Usman fight Adesanya or Khamzat? Let us know in the comments.
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