Reigning UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman joins 'Undisputed'
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Kamaru Usman (19-1 MMA, 14-0 UFC) defended his UFC welterweight title for the fourth time in spectacular fashion when he knocked out rival Jorge Masvidal (35-14 MMA, 12-7 UFC) at UFC 261.
It marked the second meeting between the two. The first came in 2020, with Usman winning that fight via a grinding unanimous decision.
Following his KO of "Gamebred," Usman joined "Undisputed" to talk about the win, his next opponent and his love for the Dallas Cowboys.
Despite the win, Usman exited the first Masvidal bout dissatisfied with the outcome and came into the second fight with a different attitude, partially fueled by the pundits – such as Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe – giving Masvidal a chance.
"After the first fight, obviously I wasn't satisfied – and you guys played a role in that," Usman said. "I know you guys might not think that we see this. But I see this ... I didn't really put that stamp on it. That's why I wanted to fight him again. I wanted to right that wrong. I didn't want to leave a fight feeling like I didn't get in the fight. I trained to be in the fight and to feel that violence, and I didn't feel it through the first one, which is why we had to do it all over again. And I think this time, I put that stamp on it. You said you wanted violence, and I gave him some violence."
Usman became the first fighter since 2009 to stop Masvidal via knockout. The fight began with a competitive first round before "The Nigerian Nightmare" caught Masvidal clean across the chin for a jaw-dropping finish.
"He [Masvidal] is very crafty. He's a very skilled guy, which is why no one has ever been able to do that to him. In the first round, he kind of showed me that. Everything I wanted to throw is technically sound, but I wanted to get through him. ... And I showed him a lot of takedowns in the first round. I needed to get him out of there.
"People want someone's head. They either want my head, or it had to be his head. And that one I had to go out there and knock his head off in order for people to walk out of there being satisfied."
With his dismantling of Masvidal, Usman has dominated everything the 170-pound division has to offer, including earning wins over Colby Covington and Gilbert Burns.
"It's one of those situations where I've kind of been through each and every guy at the top right now. You've got to find that guy – as scary as it is, as anxiety-filled as that is, but that's what keeps us alive – it's that next guy that's going to make you go, 'Oh, I feel something. I gotta train. I gotta really get motivated to go out there and face my fears again and go out there and really defeat him.' And right now, I don't really, truly see any one of those guys.
"I think I've kind of come through the division, and I've kind of ripped through the division one by one, and right now it's just a matter of me getting motivated to do it all over again."
Conor McGregor, despite the social media hubbub he created, will not be a future opponent for Usman, according to the welterweight king.
"I've showed I'm ready for anybody – anytime, anywhere. And that's not a possibility with Conor because I've offered him the fight before. My fight with Masvidal, this whole last year, they were trying to put the fight together, and it just wasn't coming to fruition, and Conor ran his mouth a little bit. ... I tweeted him, and I said, 'You have the shot.' He was radio silent.
"I think Conor is a very smart man, and he knows his ability. And he knows, if I'm going to walk into a cage with a lion, that lion will do something to him."
As far as the pound-for-pound rankings, Usman is confident that he is atop not only the welterweight hierarchy but also the MMA world as a whole.
"I think Amanda Nunes is a phenomenal champion ... She is probably, right now, the greatest female fighter we've ever seen. As far as myself, I think pound-for-pound right now, I am the best in the world. Minus the absence of Khabib [Nurmagomedov], I am the best in the world. Jon [Jones] hadn't fought in a long time, which big respect to Jon – career-wise, what Jon has done, phenomenal, you can't dispute that — but right now, pound-for-pound, I can get it done everywhere, every aspect of the sport.
"I don't believe anybody dominates like myself. I'm so far ahead of these guys. These guys need to show me something."
Last but of course not least, Bayless had to ask Usman if their Dallas Cowboys – after leaving Nigeria at age 8, Usman grew up in Dallas – would be headed to the Super Bowl this season.
"Skip, you can't do that to me," he said. "I love the Cowboys – I grew up watching them. ... My heart and love will always be with the Cowboys."
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