Former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman is currently on a two-fight losing skid. It all started with his head-kick KO loss against Leon Edwards at UFC 278. From dominating the fight to being put to sleep, it was a wild rollercoaster of a contest. However, he got the chance to settle the score and win the trilogy at UFC 286.
But Leon Edwards defied the odds and beat him at the recently concluded PPV in London. Although it was a fairytale story for Leon, the situation for Usman is quite the same. Once considered to be nearly unbeatable, Kamaru now finds himself in an odd position. He perhaps needs to defeat a number of contenders before finding himself fighting for the welterweight title again.
On top of that, Usman has already beaten opponents like Gilbert Burns, Colby Covington, and Jorge Masvidal. So there are not a lot of options left for him at 170 lbs. However, a potential move to middleweight could be very lucrative for him. At the age of 35, Usman is rapidly running out of time as an elite competitor. In the past, Usman did express interest in fighting then-champ Israel Adesanya.
Fans want Kamaru Usman to move up to middleweight before retiring
Kamaru Usman has been very candid about potentially retiring from fighting. Ahead of UFC 286, The Nigerian Nightmare spoke about his regrets about missing time with his daughter. Although he is newly single. Usman does have a very good relationship with his family members and loves spending time with them. So, fighting at middleweight would mean that he can have a shorter path to the title at middleweight.
In a recent Instagram post from CombaTalk, the outlet speculated that if Usman fights Khamzat Chimaev at middleweight first and beats him, then a bout against Robert Whittaker would be the final frontier between Usman and the title. Alex Pereira is taking on Israel Adesanya at UFC 287 for his first middleweight title defense. So Kamaru can perhaps slide into a position where he can challenge the champ in near future.
However, underneath the Instagram post, user liza_razu added, “Usman is probably one or two fights away from retirement because of his knees and I seriously doubt he would want to go up in weight to fight Khamzat as his farewell fight.”
Usman has spoken about his damaged knees on the JRE podcast. So there is a lot of credibility in the theory that Usman’s retirement is closer than ever.
Users ari.1v and eegorio both also reminded the fans that Usman once expressed interest in moving up to light heavyweight and challenging for the belt there. On top of that, many are also claiming that Robert Whittaker will defeat Usmam easily and the move up in weight may not be fruitful.
While Jamahal Hill is perhaps a bridge too far, Usman will perhaps fancy a shot against Alex Pereira. Poatan is not the best wrestler and Kamaru can definitely take advantage of that.
But Alex is an elite kickboxer and has the power to shut Usman’s lights out. During his post-fight ceremony, Usman revealed that he plans on fighting very soon and does not want to wait too long. If he does move up to middleweight, who will Kamaru Usman fight? Let us know your pick in the comments down below.