“My MOST EMOTIONAL fight,” Kamaru Usman reminisces the battle that CHALLENGED him mentally at its peak
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Kamaru Usman
Kamaru Usman had to be a different human altogether to prove his undisputed worth inside the Octagon, but there’s a time when “The Nigerian Nightmare” felt human emotions more dominantly than he felt at any other point in his professional career. Usman is currently the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC with 5 title defences as the UFC welterweight champion and wins over the likes of Colby Covington (twice), Jorge Masvidal (twice), Gilbert Burns, Leon Edwards, Rafael Dos Anjos, Sean Strickland, Tyron Woodley and many more.
Usman will face Edwards in a rematch this weekend at UFC 278 in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The first fight went a decisive victory nearly 7 years ago in favour of Usman. As of now, Usman is on a 15-fight winning streak and Edwards is on a 10-fight winning streak, these are the top 2 winning streaks going on in active UFC welterweight history. In their first fight, Usman was a major grappler and Edwards was a major striker. Since then, both have evolved to be complete top-tier mixed-martial artists.
Kamaru Usman says the build-up of the fight added to the past cooperation between him and Burns that made things emotional
In an interview with ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto, Usman talks about his thoughts on the Leon Edwards rematch, his thoughts on the rise of Khamzat Chimaev, his take on having a championship mentality, his list of the greats of MMA and much more. In the midst of all, Usman shares one of the most emotional battles he had inside the UFC octagon and it was none other than Usman’s part-time teammate Gilbert Burns at UFC 258.
“When I had to fight Gilbert Burns, that one was a big one for me,” says Usman “I think probably one of the most emotional fights, emotional training camps that I’ve kind of had to go through because I was so close to him and this guy knew me and the whole build-up and what they were trying to sell, what they were selling to people- ‘I know this guy, I trained with him, I can beat him, I know his weaknesses’- and in a sense, he does know my weaknesses and I know his as well…” continues Usman.
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What do you make of Usman’s assessment of the Burns’ fight? Usman made his third title defence by defeating Burns via TKO in the third round. Do you think these 2 will fight again in the future? Where do you put Usman amongst the greatest fighters of all time? OR is he far away from that debate? Do you think Burns will become a UFC champion someday in future?
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Abhai Singh Tanwar
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