Who has taken down Kamaru Usman in his career? Everything about 97% takedown defense of Nigerian Nightmare
Kamaru Usman transitioned to MMA from a college wrestling background. Learn more about who has taken down Kamaru Usman in his entire UFC career.
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Kamaru Usman has a near-perfect takedown defense (via The Guardian)
Kamaru “The Nigerian Nightmare” Usman had a difficult end to 2022. He lost the welterweight title to Leon Edwards. Usman attempted to regain the title at UFC 286. However, he failed to defeat Edwards in London. The former champion has numerous accolades to his name. The most underrated one remains the takedown defense of Kamaru Usman.
Usman has dominated the welterweight division since his UFC debut in 2015. He defeated Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal twice each, survived a first-round scare against Gilbert Burns, and consistently delivered exciting performances. Despite the losses to Edwards, Usman gracefully accepted the outcome and now looks forward to becoming a UFC middleweight champion. The takedown defense of Kamaru Usman has ignited an interest among fans to know more about it. Check out more details about it.
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Who has taken down Kamaru Usman in his UFC career?
Kamaru Usman boasts an impressive 97% takedown defense. He demonstrated his dominance by overcoming tough opponents in the welterweight division and came close to keeping his 100 percent takedown defense record in the UFC. Had it not been for Edwards, Usman would have maintained a perfect takedown defense record in the UFC. It’s also worth noting that he had previously suffered only one loss in his professional MMA career before facing Leon Edwards.
Leon Edwards is the only fighter to takedown Kamaru Usman. He did it at UFC 268 in the first round of the fight. Usman would then dominate rounds 2 to 4 before getting knocked out via a head kick in the final round. He would then go on to lose the rematch at UFC 276.
Despite facing a setback in welterweight, Usman will be looking to shake things up at middleweight. With unparalleled dedication, he diligently honed his skills to uphold his nickname, establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with in the UFC. He even became the pound-for-pound number-one fighter before Alexander Volkanovski leapfrogged him after his loss to Edwards.
Colby Covington’s disputed takedown on Kamaru Usman
Kamaru Usman had two fights against Colby Covington. Usman won both times. The first fight was at UFC 245, where Usman won by a fifth-round TKO. In the second fight at UFC 268, Usman defeated Covington by unanimous decision. In the second fight, Covington had a disputed takedown on Usman.
In the third round of the second bout between the two, Covington appeared to take Usman’s back by the cage. Commentating on the fight, Daniel Cormier immediately called that the sequence was a proper takedown. However, the UFC stat team refused to acknowledge it as a takedown. Cormier was adamant that it was a takedown according to wrestling rules. However, in the UFC, a takedown is counted only when there is some sort of control attached to it.
Kamaru Usman thus kept his unblemished record intact at UFC 268. However, he would lose the record in the first round of his next bout. Fight fans debate about the takedown. However, the official stats confirmed that it was not a takedown.
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Nidhin Shibu
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