Kamaru Usman claims fans have been begging him to fight in the UK 

Kamaru Usman opened up about the support he has from the UK as he prepares to fight Leon Edwards in their trilogy bout at UFC 286.

Anatomy of a Fighter uploaded a video to their YouTube channel where they documented Usman's preparations for his bout with Edwards, which will take place at the O2 Arena in London, England. He mentioned that he has many fans in the UK and claimed that they have been begging to see him fight:

"I've wanted to come here and fight. I have a tremendous amount of fans here. African fans, English fans, I have a tremendous amount of just mixed fans, Indian fans all around, who constantly beg me and message me or tweet at me to visit the UK, or come and put on something or do something for them in the UK because they would love to see me and interact with me, and it just never worked out." [6:25 - 6:56]

'The Nigerian Nightmare' added that fighting 'Rocky' in his hometown adds another fitting chapter to their rivalry. He mentioned that the trilogy bout for the welterweight championship will have a lot of meaning for UK fans and believes they deserve an event of this magnitude, saying:

"Yes, of course, I could've waited and said, 'Alright, let's do it Vegas or anything like that.' But no, it was a perfect opportunity to come here and it just adds to the story. You know, we've never given [the] UK an event like this to where they have a champion in his prime fighting a former champion." [6:59 - 7:20]

It will be interesting to see if Usman can regain the UFC welterweight championship or if Edwards can carry the momentum from their most recent bout and retain his title.

Check out the full video:

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How many UFC welterweight title defenses did Kamaru Usman have?

During his reign as welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman was one of the most successful champions in the UFC.

'The Nigerian Nightmare' earned a dominant unanimous decision win over Tyron Woodley to win the welterweight championship at UFC 235 in 2019. He successfully retained the title on 5 occasions.

His title defenses included two wins against Jorge Masvidal, two wins over Colby Covington, and a win over Gilbert Burns. He lost his title to Leon Edwards at UFC 278, which saw 'Rocky' drop him with a head kick to earn a knockout win late in the fifth round. The loss not only ended his title reign but also ended his impressive 19-fight winning streak.