Kamaru Usman has a vested interest in the UFC 322 main event where Jack Della Maddalena defends his title against Islam Makhachev.<\/p>\n
After being crowned as the welterweight GOAT by Dana White recently, Usman is ready to take back his throne after he dominated Joaquin Buckley in lopsided fashion back in June. That win, combined with his status as one of the most accomplished welterweight champions in UFC history, puts him in a very advantageous position when it comes to what\u2019s next in the division.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why Usman is staking his claim now with hopes that Della Maddalena or Makhachev is his next opponent.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made it clear what I want is that title back,\u201d Usman told MMA Fighting. \u201cThat\u2019s where I rightfully belong. Had it not been for a stupid mistake with a minute left [against Leon Edwards], I wouldn\u2019t even say it\u2019s a mistake, it\u2019s a Hail Mary that just happened to work. With a minute left, we\u2019re not having this conversation right now. It\u2019s one of those situations. But being out and taking some time off, and really trying to heal your body and come back, I think a lot of people had questions. A lot of people were [saying] time has gone by, he\u2019s no longer the same guy, he can\u2019t handle these guys anymore, these new young, hungry contenders that are in the division now like Buckley. Because Buckley\u2019s looked impressive, and he is impressive with the way he was putting these guys away, pressing forward, with what he\u2019s done with [Colby] Covington and the guys before, it was impressive.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that was kind of a dangerous one to come back [to]. Because honestly, looking at the landscape of the division at the time, he was the most dangerous guy up there in the top of that division. A guy like that with power that could put you out with one shot, there was a lot of questions about whether I could still hang with these guys at the top of this division. I think I answered those questions to let them know hey, this is what I want. I want the title. Hopefully, the company feels I deserve that, I\u2019ve earned that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
As much as rankings might seem to matter, the magnitude of a particular fight often outweighs any other factor when it comes to how the UFC decides on potential championship matchups.<\/p>\n
Usman knows his name still carries a lot of weight in the UFC but his long list of accolades certainly doesn\u2019t hurt either. He\u2019s headlined marquee pay-per-views more than a few times during his career and an argument could easily be made that Usman remains the biggest name in the division.<\/p>\n
As the UFC embarks on a new broadcast deal with Paramount in 2026, White has said the promotion really wants to hit the ground running with some truly monumental events leading into the historic UFC White House card planned for June.<\/p>\n
When it comes to the welterweight division, Usman can\u2019t imagine anything bigger than him squaring off with a legitimate superstar like Makhachev if he\u2019s able to become champion on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if you look at the whole company now as a whole, obviously Jon [Jones] vs. Alex [Pereira] is a humongous fight,\u201d Usman explained. \u201cI think maybe the return of Conor [McGregor], that\u2019s just because it\u2019s the return, everyone wants to answer those questions can he still fight. I think [with me and Islam] it\u2019s obviously both former pound-for-pound [No. 1 ranked fighters], I don\u2019t think in history it\u2019s ever happened where they go at it. So I think that\u2019s a humongous fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love Islam. This isn\u2019t one of those situations where we\u2019re coming in and I hate your uncles or I hate you. It\u2019s pure competition of the best of the best. I think it\u2019s the biggest for sure. You want one of those fights. You want one of those fights that really elevates the division. That really puts the division on the forefront when everyone knows there\u2019s a welterweight matchup coming up, everyone pays attention. I think this is that fight, myself and Islam.\u201d<\/p>\n
Make no mistake, Usman isn\u2019t discounting the possibility that Della Maddalena retains his title, which is why he\u2019s not calling for any specific fight but rather just pushing for the title shot no matter who is champion after UFC 322.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong, myself and JDM as well, that\u2019s a big fight for the new guard going up against the old guard,\u201d Usman said. \u201cI think that\u2019s a big fight as well. But I just think that we\u2019ve never seen two pound-for-pound fighters going in there and duke it out, I think that right there\u2019s a blockbuster, and I think it\u2019s definitely close to the top.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sitting here [saying] I just want Islam. No, I want the title and right now the two guys that happen to be fighting for that title are Islam and Jack. Whoever that person is, is the fight that I want. Obviously if it\u2019s Jack, the old guard versus the new guard, it\u2019s also still a contrast in styles. Yes, I want that fight, but if it\u2019s Islam, that sells itself. Take my money now.\u201d<\/p>\n
As far as the matchup itself goes, Usman believes a lot of people are counting out Della Maddalena, which he finds rather crazy, especially after he became champion with a stunning performance to beat Belal Muhammad.<\/p>\n
That said, Usman still sees one area of the fight where Makhachev is just dramatically better than Della Maddalena and that really could end up as the difference when they clash on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a crazy thing to count [JDM] out,\u201d Usman said. \u201cI think Jack is talented. I always thought he was talented coming up in the division and with the way that he went about with his last fight, the way he looked, he looked impressive. He really put everything together.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow Islam \u2014 I love Islam. Islam is extremely talented, and Islam\u2019s been phenomenal with what he\u2019s been presented with the last five, six, seven years, however long he\u2019s been on this streak. I think it\u2019s a very close related fight. I don\u2019t think one guy is just head and shoulders above the other guy but I do think there is an area where one guy could shine, and I think that would be in the grappling aspect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite just recently welcoming the UFC CEO on his podcast, Usman says he didn\u2019t try to push for a title shot during his conversation with White but he\u2019s made no secret about what he wants next.<\/p>\n
The final decision won\u2019t be made right away, but Usman truly hopes he\u2019s the name at the top of the list when the UFC starts putting together title fights for 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a conversation that needs to be had with obviously the brass, Hunter [Campbell] and these guys to kind of let you know what they think is next,\u201d Usman said. \u201cBecause they\u2019re running the company, they\u2019re running a business. So it\u2019s got to be in their hands as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kamaru Usman has a vested interest in the UFC 322 main event where Jack Della Maddalena defends his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,701,638,82,640,702,3194],"class_list":{"0":"post-278374","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc","15":"tag-ufc-news","16":"tag-videos"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}