Kamaru Usman believes ‘magic’ played a part in the end of his legendary welterweight title run.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ appeared to be cruising to a decision win over Leon Edwards at UFC 278 in August 2022.
However, ‘Rocky’ uncorked a picture-perfect head kick to knock him out cold in the final minute of round five.
Since then, Kamaru Usman has been outpointed by Edwards, who proved his win wasn’t a fluke during their title fight rematch. But several years later, the former 170lb king has suggested something supernatural ended his reign.
Kamaru Usman reacts to Leon Edwards losing again
Edwards lost the welterweight title in his second defense against Belal Muhammad last July.
The 33-year-old was easily outwrestled over five rounds in front of his own fans at UFC 304.
On Saturday night, the same thing happened again when he tried to bounce back at UFC London.
Sean Brady dominated Edwards on the floor before closing the show with a rear-naked choke in round four.
Usman used the word ‘magic’ to describe how Edwards beat him at UFC 278 before going on to explain that his old rival had failed to address the gaps in his game after becoming champ.
“When you do become champ by some form of magic or whatever, you start feeling yourself,” Usman said on the Pound 4 Pound podcast he shares with former dual-weight UFC champion Henry Cejudo.
“You start feeling like, ‘Yo, I got the sauce. I’m that dude now. I’m the best’.
“But you still have holes in your game that need to be corrected. If you don’t take the time to really try to work on that, enhance that game, or at least clean those [areas] up, you won’t stay there for very, very long.
“You saw it with Sean Strickland up at middleweight.”
Kamaru Usman names three-man hitlist
Usman hasn’t fought since suffering a third successive defeat against Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294 in October 2023.
Still, he’s ready and willing to make an Octagon return against one of the best welterweights in the world.
Usman says the big UFC London winner tops his list of preferred opponents for a UFC comeback fight.
“When you look at styles and the way that fights work, myself and Colby Covington, what did everyone say? ‘Oh, they’re both wrestlers. They’re both economical fighters.’ And you saw what that turned out to be,” Usman said.
“All right, we cancel each other out, we ain’t even going to try to grapple, let’s bang it out.
“Hey, this has the potential to be one of those fights. I like Sean Brady. I like the way he approaches the game, and of course, he’s training with Din Thomas now, so that adds an extra element to the game. I like both, but I want to keep that streak of beating all of Din Thomas’ guys.
“I whooped at least three of his guys, so I want to keep that streak going, but I like that matchup.”