It’s fair to say that nothing gets combat sports odds moving as fast as the promise of a fight between two leading contenders. In April, UFC 261 took place, and Kamaru Usman was victorious, taking out opponent Jorge Masvidal. So naturally, this has led to speculation and plenty of gossip about who the next opponent might be. UFC champions are prized fighters and certainly always have plenty of opponents ready to take on the challenge of knocking them from the top spot.
Who is Kamaru Usman?
Osman was born in Nigeria in 1987. In the MMA world, he has been nicknamed the Nigerian Nightmare and stands an impressive 6 feet tall with a reach of 76 inches. He is the current welterweight champion and one of the top wrestlers in the world. As a Pro MMA fighter, he has a stellar record of 19 wins, one loss and no draws. Throughout his career, he has amassed impressive earnings of $1,294,000.
What is Next?
There seem to be varying opinions on who his next opponent will be. One report suggests that his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, has indicated he would be happy to defend his title at UFC 263, which takes place on June 12th this year. Naturally, it is understood that the fighter wants to take on someone of a decent high ranking who also is an undefeated welterweight champion without a fight already on the cards. A name that has been touted is Michael Chiesa. His manager says the Nigerian Nightmare is happy to defend his title and take on the number 7th ranked fighter in welterweight.
Dana White has Other Ideas
In a conflicting report, the president of the UFC, Dana White, has allegedly confirmed that the next fight to take place will be against Colby Covington. White’s opinion is that Colby is the clear-cut choice, but it won’t be the first time these two have met in the ring. They fought in 2019, and again, Usman was the victorious opponent winning in the fifth round with a TKO that broke his opponents draw.
However, it seems our victor is not particularly interested in a rematch, suggesting that he does not need to take on anyone he has already beaten and insists that his win rate was increasingly efficient. It certainly seems that his manager agrees. Covington, whose nickname is the King of Chaos, would technically be the next player in line to take a shot at the title, but the Usman camp seemed to think jumping him ahead of the proposed match with Michael would not work.
Confident
It seems that there is supreme confidence that the Nigerian Nightmare could easily beat Chiesa, with his manager saying, ‘9 times out of 10 with more style’. So potentially, at this stage, names of the next opponents are simply a case of posturing for media attention and as yet, nothing is set in stone. While there is plenty of time to arrange a match for the June venue, plenty of other names have been bandied about by sports commentators, including Conor McGregor and Leon Edwards.
Leon Edwards
Hailing from Birmingham in the UK, Edwards seems to be one of those names that often gets overlooked and doesn’t attract such a fan following as others. This might be because he tends not to trash talk, instead preferring to be a little more restrained. But, of course, fans and UFC bosses alike encourage this rivalry as it makes for good television.
Edwards currently has a pretty impressive streak of nine straight wins, and he too has met Usman before losing to him in 2015. The next fight to take place for him was against Nate Diaz at UFC 262, but this has now been postponed to the June date. This would mean that a match against Usman could not take place at the same event. Unfortunately, the delay was necessary as Diaz was injured at training camp. Some even speculated that it was a tactical injury as he has not fought in the ring since 2019 and is unlikely to beat Edwards. However, if Edwards does win this fight as the bookies’ favourite, it would put him in an excellent position to square up against the Nigerian Nightmare once more.
Connor McGregor
Under the Twitter handle of @TheNotoriousMMA, Conor McGregor certainly had a lot to say, taunting Usman and clearly making him another contender for the next bout. He accused the title holder of being a copycat using his techniques. The Irish fighter, 32, is known for his social media noise and alleged that the Nigerian Nightmare had taken banned substances. He certainly thinks he is a good candidate for the next fight and he has not hidden his plan to win a third world title.
Overall, there certainly seems to be a lot of opinions about the identity of his next opponent. There are plenty of people who agree with Dana White and think it should be Colby Covington, while other pundits and fans seem to think it would be better for him to face a new opponent with no history. It’s unlikely we will have to wait long for details to be confirmed, and there is every chance it could take place in June, unless of course Edwards is lined up, in which case they will have to wait for another outing as he will be rather busy trying to beat Diaz.
