One of the most prominent managers in the sport wasn’t happy after his fighter wasn’t financially rewarded for his performance.
Having managed fighters like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev among many others, Ali Abdelaziz has played a big role in the careers of some of the best fighters in the history of the sport.
While Abdelaziz has been involved in some of the biggest fights in the history of the sport, and some that didn’t end up happening, he’s also managed many fighters that have had slow climbs to the top.
We’ve seen that take place in recent times with the likes of Magomed Ankalaev and Movsar Evloev, who are both his fighters, as they produce long win streaks before finally getting what they deserve.
Abdelaziz understands the entertainment aspect of the sport but this ended up leaving him incredibly frustrated when one of his fighters didn’t receive recognition from the UFC for answering some of his critics.
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Ali Abdelaziz claims he ‘raised hell’ after Kamaru Usman produced his first highlight in the UFC
Kamaru Usman immediately hit the ground running in the UFC and started to put together the foundations of what would be one of the longest winning streaks in the history of the promotion.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ was racking up wins but he wasn’t exactly blowing the roof off of the building either, which was hurting his momentum.
While he would go back to dominating opponents to win on the scorecards after, Usman showed what he was capable of when he stepped inside the Octagon on September 16 of 2017.
In the first round, the wrestling specialist kept the fight standing and detonated a huge right hand that sent Sergio Moraes crumbling to the canvas.
Unfortunately for Usman, 8 of 10 fights ended via finish on this night, with Uriah Hall and Mike Perry earning the performance of the night bonuses for their own one-shot knockouts.
Speaking during a recent appearance on the Pound 4 Pound podcast about Movsar Evloev’s need to make people notice him in order to earn a title shot, Ali Abdelaziz reflected on Usman leaving Pittsburgh without a bonus.
“This is the problem with Movsar, he has no highlights. Kamaru was in this position. Kamaru was in this position [until] he knocked out Sergio Moraes in Brazil, give him 360, didn’t even get a $50,000 [bonus]. I f—— raised hell and after that, Kamaru finally had a highlight. That was the [moment] of like, ‘Okay, Kamaru is good’.”
Kamaru Usman admitted that he would fast forward through his own early UFC fights
Ali Abdelaziz believes that what won the UFC over to Kamaru Usman, who Dana White is a big fan of, is when he was able to sit ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ down in front of them.
Even Usman himself admitted on the podcast that when he looked back at his early fights in the UFC, he would skip through them which made him realize that he needed to produce more highlights.
“You have to just self-reflect and be honest with yourself because even myself, I fell into a rhythm. I think I was like 4-0 in the UFC and each fight, I had at least one 10-8 round… But, I’m watching it back and I’m just fast forwarding the fight because I’m just taking the guy down, I’m on top of the guy the whole time. I’m just fast forwarding the fight and then the minute we’re standing up, I watch that.”
Having gone 9-0 in the UFC, Movsar Evloev is yet to finish an opponent but in his return on July 26, a win over Aaron Pico would seemingly earn him a title shot regardless of how he gets his hand raised.