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Former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman laid down a three-fight blueprint for his return to the octagon this year.
Making his UFC debut in 2015, Usman has fought 18 times and tasted victory in 15 of those. Usman was on a 15-fight win streak in the promotion and had made five successful defenses of his welterweight title.
'The Nigerian Nightmare' lost his title against Leon Edwards at UFC 278 and also faced a defeat in a rematch at UFC 286. Usman replaced Paulo Costa on short notice and faced Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294 in October 2023. Although, he ended the fight in a dominant fashion, 'Borz' emerged as the winner by majority decision.
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Usman has taken over a year off from action and is looking to return to the octagon. During a recent episode of the Pound 4 Pound podcast, he expressed his wish to fight Sean Brady, Shavkat Rakhmonov and Joaquin Buckley. He said:
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"If I had to pick in order, I would say Brady, Shavkat and Buckley."
Check out Kamaru Usman's comments below (13:12):
Kamaru Usman's opinion on Belal Muhammad wanting to move up to middleweight
Kamaru Usman gave his thoughts on welterweight champion Belal Muhammad wanting to move up to middleweight for a double champion status. Usman believes Muhammad has unfinished business at welterweight, and there are plenty of contenders he needs to beat first. Notably, Muhammad defends his 170-pound title against Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315.
During last month's episode of the Pound 4 Pound podcast, Usman said:
“If Belal wants to go up and fight DDP, then he vacates the title...Who cares? He hasn’t gone through the division to say, ‘Hey, I want double straps.’ No one cares, and listen, this is not me trying to hate or say anything negative about him. If he wants to do that, that’s fine. He can do that, but there’s a plethora of guys there... So, there’s guys coming that you haven’t really gone through the division.”
Check out Kamaru Usman's comments below (35:45):
