“Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen of MMA” – Kamaru Usman and Justin Gaethje compare themselves to ICONIC NBA duo

Former UFC champion Kamaru Usman jests with teammate Justin Gaethje, comparing their dynamic to NBA legends Jordan and Pippen in a lighthearted moment on his YouTube channel.

“Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen of MMA” – Kamaru Usman and Justin Gaethje compare themselves to ICONIC NBA duo

Kamaru Usman compares himself and Justin Gaethje to iconic NBA duo (Image via: Instagram)

Kamaru Usman is the former long reigning UFC welterweight champion. ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ was in attendance to watch the recently concluded UFC 296, headlined by Colby Covington and Leon Edwards. Usman recently uploaded a video of his stay in Las Vegas for the fight on his YouTube channel.

Justin Gaethje, the BMF champion, is a close friend and training partner of Usman. Moreover, the two share the same manager, Ali Abdelaziz. In Usman’s recent YouTube video, Usman hilariously tricked Justin Gaethje, who was on the video call, and made him refer to Usman as ‘Michael Jordan.’ Usman even referred to Gaethje as ‘Scottie Pippen.’ However, Gaethje disagreed with the assessment. Nonetheless, Gaethje agreed to be the coach of ‘Jordan’ if Usman was Jordan.

YouTube video

Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen are part of the iconic Chicago Bulls NBA team that went berserk in the 1990s. The team won 6 NBA titles in the last decade of the 20th century. This is why Usman referenced himself and Gaethje as Jordan and Pippen, as they are two of the greatest teammates ever.

FS Video

Usman is currently on a three-fight losing skid. After he lost the title to Leon Edwards, he was unsuccessful in the rematch and also lost a short-notice middleweight fight against Khamzat Chimaev. Justin Gaethje last fought Dustin Poirier for the BMF title at UFC 291. He knocked out Poirier with a head kick in the second round.

Kamaru Usman talks about the hard life of an MMA fighter

Kamaru Usman’s reign as the welterweight champion in the UFC made him popular on mainstream media. It even got him a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Before his loss to Edwards, Usman was the pound-for-pound king in the UFC. Usman’s success is not without cost. He has arthritic knees due to constant training as an athlete.

Kamaru Usman knocked out by Leon Edwards
Kamaru Usman knocked out by Leon Edwards (Image via: X)

Usman spoke about the plight of an MMA fighter in his appearance on the Valuetainment podcast. This is what Usman had to say about it.

We are literally breaking our bodies all day, every day. And you know, yes, the world only gets to see us for that 25 minutes while we're up there. But they don't see the five months that we put in to get there. That's even more difficult. That 25 minutes is just the fun part, you know? That's the fun part that you guys just get to see, that's not what kills us, that's not what breaks our bodies. It's the months and months and weeks and weeks of practice.
Kamaru Usman via Valuetainment

Usman remarked that fighting inside the octagon was very easy when compared to training for a fight. The former champion has been an athlete since his high school days. He played American Football in high school before he transitioned to wrestling. Usman was a one-time NCAA Division II national champion and a three-time NCAA Division II All-American.

In case you missed it!