Former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman returns to the octagon on June 14, headlining UFC on ESPN 69 in opposition to Joaquin Buckley.
“The Nigerian Nightmare” final fought in October 2023 in a brief discover struggle in opposition to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294. After the break day, Usman’s able to get again at it. Buckley’s subsequent until Usman runs into champion Belal Muhammad first.
“Belal’s a man that I by no means actually – He was at all times round and I by no means actually paid consideration to as a result of I used to be doing what I wanted to do to. I used to be at all times preventing the following man up, the following man up. I did not actually take note of Belal,” Usman informed ESPN.
“Now that I am pressured to really have a look at Belal, he is not dangerous. He is simply good all over the place. That is been working. That is labored for him. He is not dangerous. I am by no means in any approach discrediting that. I believe as soon as I used to be pressured to concentrate to him, I began to form of see the antics that goes on exterior of the cage. And I used to be by no means that man. If I used to be champion and the following man up began barking at me then, after all, I might reply. Alright. Then we would get in there and settle it.
“Belal simply appears to be a special sort of champion who’s prepared to make memes, he is prepared to get on Twitter, social media, as a result of he needs the eye,” Usman continued.
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Usman invited Muhammad to look on his “Pound 4 Pound” podcast and Muhammad accepted the provide. The section hasn’t been launched however the two reportedly got here to blows within the studio.
“He craves that spotlight. Even in case you’re a light-weight, even in case you’re a man that is a flyweight who’s not within the division, he is prepared to have that back-and-forth with you,” Usman mentioned. “And for me, I simply discover it a bit of bit distasteful, and I wasn’t part of it And as soon as he turned champion, he began to come back at me with that vitality. I used to be like, ‘Oh, you may have an issue with me? Nicely, in case you have an issue, I do not actually play the web recreation. Let’s speak it out.’ So we invited him on the podcast, and it went the way it went. That is all I might say. Ultimately, hopefully we’ll launch that podcast as a result of he was solely there for perhaps like 10 minutes. It wasn’t actually lengthy, after which it was over and he left.”
Muhammad left however that wasn’t the tip of their feud. When requested if safety must intervene if the 2 bumped into one another, Usman replied, “In all probability.”
