“I’ve still got that chip on my shoulder, It’s actually almost even bigger now,” says Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman
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‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ Kamaru Usman is all set for his third title defense against his former teammate Gilbert Burns. Usman is at that point of his carrier where he proved himself as one of the best Welterweight champions.
Even after achieving all this, the champ still believes that he still got a chip on his shoulder. In his latest interview with MMA Junkie, Usman says, “It’s funny, actually – I’ve still got that chip on my shoulder,”
“It’s actually almost even bigger now, and it’s because even with all of that, for some reason, people still don’t want to give you the respect that you deserve because of maybe their personal preference.”
“But it is what it is. That chip is still on my shoulder because when I got into this, it wasn’t for legacy, it wasn’t for fame or money or anything of that nature. It was just simply to compete and prove that I am the best, that I can be the best at my time.”
“And so that was my mindset, and it’s still my mindset. That’s the biggest thing that drives me, is competition. So as long as there’s competition out there, and as long as I’m – and that’s the biggest thing: I have to be honest with myself.”
“As long as I’m honest with myself, and still capable and able to do it, I want to be the best. So that chip is still heavy on my shoulder.”
Kamaru Usman believes that his mental strength is the key to his success
Kamaru Usman holds a record of (17-1) in MMA and he is still undefeated in UFC. The champ won 8 consecutive fights before finally getting his title shot. He defeated Tyron Woodley to won the UFC Welterweight title.
After that ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ defended it against Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal successfully and he believes it is his strong mental strength that makes him different from others.
Usman added, “My mind is better than all these guys in the division right now, to where it depends on him, Those guys dictate how this thing is going to go. If they’ve done their homework the appropriate way and they come prepared,”
“Then they might be able to pull out a different fight out of me, like you saw in the Covington fight. He came prepared, and he pulled out that kind of fight from me. But if you don’t come prepared, it’s going to be one-sided, like every last one of my fights.”
“It’s going to be a one-sided beating, so I’ll leave that up to him. We haven’t trained together in quite some time, so I’ve added some new wrinkles to my game that I’m pretty sure they don’t see coming, so we’ll see how it goes, but I’m sitting at the top.”
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Suryansh Thakur
(1600 Articles Published)