Big Media personnel is running out of ideas after Usman’s dominant win over Jorge Masvidal. Although it is possible that Usman can become a two division champion, the fact of the matter is Usman is not willing to fight the current champion, Israel Adesanya.
Usman has said in the Joe Rogan Podcast, that as long as Adesanya is sitting on the throne of the middleweight division, he will never fight for the belt. He went on to say that he would rather have two Nigerians champions rather than one Nigerian holding two belts.
There are currently three African champions, Ngannou, Adesanya and Usman. The scary thing is that the three of them are still improving. Yes, Adesanya is coming off a loss against Jan Blachowicz, but during his run in the middleweight division, he still looked levels above his competition.
History! Africa now has three champions.
🇳🇬 @USMAN84kg @Stylebender | 🇨🇲 @Francis_Ngannou pic.twitter.com/0i6vIxOViP
— UFC (@ufc) March 28, 2021
An event headlining three African Champions in Africa is a big event to make, plus it will expand the promotion’s market in another continent. It could potentially break records in terms of attendance and live gate.
Another name that was asked was his fellow brother, Khabib Nurmagomedov. Although Khabib retired, the TMZ thinks that it will be one of the biggest fights in UFC history. Usman also agreed with the thought but the fight will likely not happen due to both respect highly of each other that it will simply not happen.
So what is next for Usman? Obviously he should continue dominating the welterweight divison. The UFC is pushing for the rematch of Usman vs Covington which is still a massive fight to make, given how close their first fight was. Prior to UFC 261, a lot of fans has said that Covington deserved the rematch compared to Masvidal.
Another interesting match-up would be Usman vs Thompson, simply because we have not seen it yet. Stephen Thompson is a different style of fighter compared to the guys Usman has beaten. He is a striking specialist with great takedown defense, but will he be able to defend Usman’s takedown? Thompson is scheduled to face Gilbert Burns.
The jiu jitsu master meets the karate specialist 🔥👀 #UFC264 pic.twitter.com/6Ayz2k1JQF
— UFC (@ufc) April 28, 2021
