Kamaru Usman’s welterweight title reign made him right into a extremely revered determine within the UFC.
Whereas Usman’s knockout win over Jorge Masvidal, amongst different victories, earned him a variety of admiration, this wasn’t at all times the case.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ has had some controversial moments contained in the Octagon, with Joe Rogan being particularly frustrated by Usman’s win over Demian Maia.
Having misplaced his final three, the previous champion is trying to get again on monitor when Usman faces Joaquin Buckley in the primary occasion of UFC Atlanta.
Again when his dominant win streak at 170 kilos was nonetheless alive, the rising contender earned some harsh evaluations from Dana White following an underwhelming efficiency.
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Kamaru Usman pissed off Dana White after claiming that he beat Emil Weber Meek at simply ’30 p.c’
In January of 2018, the Octagon returned to St. Louis, Missouri the place Kamaru Usman would look to increase his UFC successful streak to seven.
This outing would see the #10-ranked contender struggle backwards within the rankings as the previous ‘TUF’ winner confronted Norway’s Emil Weber Meek.
Meek had gone 1-0 contained in the Octagon with a debut win over Jordan Mein, however his charismatic character and thrilling combating fashion have been no match for Usman.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ dominated the struggle along with his grappling, successful a clear-cut unanimous resolution that earned a variety of boos from the gang following a boring contest.
In his post-fight interview, Usman didn’t assist the complaints by claiming that he was solely combating at 30 p.c of his capabilities.
“Hear, I fought this struggle sitting at about 30 p.c. All people is aware of what I’m able to. That was 30 p.c proper there and I nonetheless dominated a troublesome, so-called Viking. Dominated him and that was at 30 p.c.”
Dana White was vital of Usman throughout the FS1 post-fight present when reflecting on this struggle, disregarding the concept he needs to face massive title opponents after that win.
The win out of the blue surrounded Usman in a variety of complaints of his fashion, although followers within the feedback beneath the post-fight interview have identified that his assertion aged very effectively.
“It’s some of the ridiculous issues I’ve ever heard any person say, and also you’re getting booed out of the sector on high of it,” White stated. “I don’t know. We’ll see what’s subsequent for him.
“I didn’t love that struggle. Yeah, he’s a troublesome man. Yeah, he can impose his will. However you don’t bounce up and begin appearing such as you knocked any person out and say you solely went 30 p.c. So what’s that imply? What if you happen to’re on pay-per-view? Do you employ 60 p.c?”
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Kamaru Usman blamed Dana White for the backlash that he confronted after ’30 p.c’ remark
Throughout an look on The MMA Hour, Kamaru Usman clarified what he meant by his 30 p.c feedback.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ said that he wasn’t referring to the hassle that he was placing in however quite his well being going into the matchup having handled some accidents forward of the matchup.
Usman stated that White misunderstood this, which then led to the followers taking the identical strategy.
“When you’ve got a president that’s so highly effective like Dana White and he goes out within the media and says what he says, everybody simply jumps on it. I swear if Dana says that, ‘You already know what? An earthquake goes to occur tomorrow,’ everybody’s going to leap on it, ‘Oh, an earthquake’s going to occur tomorrow.’ That’s simply the way in which that these UFC followers are.”
Usman would go on to beat Demian Maia and Rafael dos Anjos in convincing trend earlier than dominating Tyron Woodley to win the welterweight title at UFC 235.
