UFC 228 already lost its co-main event title fight when Nicco Montano was sent to the hospital during the early weigh-ins on Friday morning. And while Darren Till had already made weight, top contender Kamaru Usman is still keeping himself ready if anything untoward happens.
“It’s definitely a weird position, especially at this stage of my career,” Usman told MMA Fighting. “But I attest my strength to deal with it with the training I’ve had, going through years and years of wrestling. Especially collegiately. You’re in a big tournament, you don’t know who you’ll get next.”
“It’s whoever gets through that guy that you get next. I like to think that I’ve had a lot of training for moments like this.”
Usman is in Dallas with a room booked for him at the UFC host hotel, ready to step in if he needs to. He weighed in at 169 lbs at the official weigh ins, making him eligible to compete as a replacement fighter.
“At the end of the day, I’m a professional. I’ve been doing this s— for a long, long time. I don’t take this for granted,” he continued. “When I decided that I wanted to be a professional athlete…one thing about me is that my parents didn’t force me to be an athlete. My parents didn’t want me to do this. My dad, when I told him I wanted to wrestle, he told me no, if you’re going to play any sports play baseball.”
“You get paid a lot and there’s not that much contact. But for some reason I chose to do this. I chose to embark on this journey.”
UFC 228 is scheduled to take place on Saturday, September 8th, in Dallas, Texas.