Kamaru Usman snapped his three-fight losing skid in the UFC Atlanta main event.
The former welterweight champion was winless since outpointing Colby Covington in November 2021.
Since then he’s been head kick KO’d by Leon Edwards, who beat him by decision in a rematch before ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ fell short against Khamzat Chimaev in his last fight at UFC 294 in October 2023.
Surging contender Joaquin Buckley welcomed Kamaru Usman back to the Octagon on Saturday night.
Kamaru Usman vs Joaquin Buckley result
Usman ducked under a punch to score a takedown early in round one.
Once he had control, the 170lb great maintained position and peppered away with ground strikes to leave Buckley sporting a cut on his eye at the end of the first frame.
Buckley managed to land some strikes and avoid Usman for the first half of round two, but he was eventually taken down and dominated on the floor again.
It was a similar story in round three. After two minutes, Buckley landed his biggest shot of the fight, which prompted Usman to take him down to the ground again.
Once he was there Buckley didn’t look capable of getting back to his feet.
Round four was predictable. Once again, Buckley winged big punches for the first half before getting taken down and mauled on the mat towards the end of the round.
Amazingly, Buckley managed to fend off five takedown attempts in the final frame.
Usman survived some scary moments to make it the full 25 minutes in his comeback fight.
Ultimately, the judges scored the fight 49-46, 49-46, and 48-47 in favor of Usman.
Kamaru Usman sends message to fellow welterweights
Usman fought back tears as he discussed his emotional ‘battle’ to get back in the UFC win column during a post-fight interview with Paul Felder.
However, he remained composed enough to send a menacing message to his 170lb rivals.
“The rest of the welterweight division, listen,” Usman said.
“I have and always will be the f—— boogeyman.”