Conor McGregor seems to be leaving the lightweight division in his past, and setting his sights on welterweight. Specifically, he wants to take the UFC welterweight strap from Kamaru Usman. The #1 pound for pound fighter on the planet.
Joe Rogan, UFC commentator and podcast host explains why that might not be as good an idea as Conor thinks it is. “Now he’s talking about fighting Kamaru Usman. Be careful what you ask for.
Rogan Cautions Conor Over Usman Callout
Be careful what you ask for. Usman is a big man and he’s top of the food chain right now. That’s the best pound-for-pound fighter alive, Kamaru Usman, and he’s a natural 170.
You’ve got to remember, Conor McGregor won the title at 145 and then he went up to 155 and knocked out Eddie Alvarez to become the champ-champ.
Then he fought at 170 but he fought Cowboy Cerrone who is a natural 155 pounder. No knock on Cowboy, Cowboy’s beat a lot of good 170 pounders, he’s an elite fighter, but Usman’s a different thing. That’s a different peak. There’s no oxygen at the top of that mountain.
That’s as good as it gets ever at 170. I would put Kamaru Usman up against any 170-pound fighter that’s ever lived.
I’m not saying that he would beat Georges St-Pierre, I’m not saying he would beat all of them, but he might beat all of them. He might be the best that’s ever been at 170.
He’s as good as they get. He’s got ferocious knockout power, he’s elite at wrestling, nobody puts him on his back, and he’s still getting better! He’s still getting better.”
Kamaru Usman has been dominating the welterweight division for almost his entire career. He’s never lost a fight in the UFC. By comparison, Conor’s record since his meteoric rise to double-champ status has been abysmal, with a single win over Cowboy Cerrone – albeit at 170 pounds – in four fights.
“The strength of the mind is so important. The ability to overcome, the ability to figure out what to do in times of peril, when things go sideways, how do you adjust? What decisions do you make? Whether you have any give up in you?
Some people have a little give up in them, you just have to find, what’s that threshold? And people have made Conor give up. He’s tapped. Nobody’s made Usman tap except one time.
The second fight of his career he got caught in a rear-naked choke and he got tapped out. But he was new. Since then, he’s smashed everybody.” Do you think Kamaru Usman will walk all over Conor McGregor? Let us know in the comments.
