Kamaru Usman reflects on an injury he suffered during a training session before UFC 251 (July 2020) and opens up on a potential rematch with Jorge Masvidal.
Ahead of his fight with Gilbert Burns, Kamaru Usman reveals a particular incident from the UFC 251 stretch. At the event, Usman witnessed his initial opponent Gilbert Burns being forced to pull out on account of a positive Covid-19 test, and then saw Jorge Masvidal receiving the props for taking the fight on short notice.
While in the fight Usman comprehensively defeated Masvidal, he believes he could have fought even better, had an injury-which he suffered just two weeks before the fight-not bothered him.
“Two weeks before, shattered,” Usman told ESPN. “A lot of people haven’t dealt with a broken nose. When anything comes close to your face, you’re trying to defend and not get that nose hit. There are a couple of guys here [Usman’s camp] who hit pretty hard. We can blame that one on Carrington Banks and Justin Gaethje.”
Also Read: Kamaru Usman heaps praise on rising Welterweight prospect for ‘playing the cards right’ in UFC
UFC Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman opens up on a potential rematch with Gamebred
Usman defended the Welterweight title via unanimous decision, however, claims he could not fire on all cylinders that night and held back on occasions.
“I was unhappy because as much as I put into preparing for fights, I basically was just on autopilot that fight,” Usman said. “A lot of things played a factor in that fight. I’m way better than that. I have way more tools and skills to display than what I showed because out there, I beat him with stuff I’ve been doing for five years.
In the Welterweight division, there is a large queue of fighters lined up for the title shot, thus, a rematch between Masvidal and Usman is not imminent, however, Usman wants to face the Gamebred once again, to carry out what he could not execute the last time he was in front of him.
“It’s me versus me out there. So, there’s a potential of that fight happening again if he works himself there, but I want to do it again because I want to put an exclamation on it. I want to finish him. I want to impress myself.”
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