Kamaru Usman is thinking big after returning to the win column in his past fight.
The former welterweight champion snapped a three-fight losing skid with an impressive win over streaking contender Joaquin Buckley in the UFC on ESPN 69 main event this past June.
With welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena (18-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) making his first title defense against Islam Makhachev (27-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) in the UFC 322 headliner on Nov. 15 at Madison Square Garden in New York, Usman (21-4 MMA, 16-3 UFC) is campaigning for the winner.
“If JDM (Della Maddalena) defends that title against Islam, who better to say OK, let’s solidify him as the new generation of champion by taking on the biggest name, the former pound-for-pound in the division, of course, me,” Usman said on his “Pound 4 Pound” podcast with Henry Cejudo.
“Of course, if Islam wins, pound-for-pound vs. pound-for-pound fighting, I mean, I’m not really worried here. I’ve done my job to let them know because they wanted to see, ‘Hey, are you still that guy, can you still hang with these guys, can you still do your thing,’ and I’ve done that. I went in there and showed them that. So, I’m not worried.”
Welterweight has a plethora of contenders waiting for their title shot from Sean Brady, to Shavkat Rakhmonov, and Ian Machado Garry. Amongst the list of top-ranked fighters are ex-champ Belal Muhammad, who has been calling Usman out ever since losing his belt to Della Maddalena at UFC 315 in May.
