Champions rarely need to call out challengers, but UFC welterweight king Kamaru Usman had only one name on his mind after sending out Gilbert Burns in his latest title defense.
Moments after raising his hand in the UFC 258 main event, Usman turned his attention to former opponent Jorge Masvidal, who has recently taken more than a few shots at him via social media.
Despite largely dominating Masvidal during their previous encounter at UFC 251, Usman still feels he has had unfinished business with the “BMF” champion due to the circumstances surrounding that particular fight.
“I said I should respect my name for a reason,” Usman said at the UFC 258 press conference after the fight. That fight, he had a built-in excuse. That’s the only reason he got into that fight. We’ve tried making that fight twice before. He said no. When Khabib [Nurmagomedov] and I think it was [Tony] Ferguson fell out, we tried. I called Dana [White] and I said ‘hey it’s two weeks in advance, I really didn’t train but I’ll intervene if you need to’ and they tried to make that fight, but Masvidal said no.
“He did an interview where he said, ‘oh, the numbers were wrong and this and that.’ He says no. The only reason he got into that fight on Fight Island is because it was a built-in excuse. He was training all the time, but he said, “I only had six days notice, that’s why it was. ‘ ”
The UFC had previously tried to book the fight, including negotiations with Masvidal for last July’s fight that would be the first-ever card on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi. Unfortunately, the two sides were unable to come to an agreement and Gilbert Burns was named the No. 1 contender instead.
Sadly, Burns fell off the card after testing positive for COVID-19 and Masvidal was secured as a late substitute before losing a unanimous decision to Usman.
While nothing was ideal about the way that fight came together, Usman says Masvidal’s claim that he only had six days to prepare doesn’t even begin to address the issues he faced prior to that same event.
“You would think he learned that the first time because I was dealing with worse,” Usman said. Everyone said ‘oh he took the fight six days in advance’ but guess what? I took it with six days’ notice. I was here in Las Vegas and flew home. They called me while I was in between fights Dallas sat. I had to leave my bags, leave the airport, call my parents to pick me up from the airport, they picked me up, went straight to Target, bought a scale, and got on the scale. Not to mention, I ate like a pig the night before because I said I didn’t fight I’m 195 pounds when I step on the scales.
“Call the coach down there, Tony Cabello, I said,” Hey Tony, we need to train. “Went out like crazy that night, got off about five or six pounds, then I got on the scales, I said we were very close. The next day flew back to Vegas and then flew to Abu Dhabi. maybe about four days, I didn’t sleep at all to prepare for that fight and he had a built-in excuse. “
Regardless of the circumstances, Usman won the fight and it seemed he was at peace with Masvidal after spending 25 minutes together in the cage.
That mutual respect seemingly faced in the weeks and months after that event ended, and now Usman is more determined than ever to fight Masvidal again to prove himself the superior fighter.
“” Oh, I got up to six days’ notice, give me three weeks and see what I will do. “I’ll give you a whole training camp,” Usman said. “This time I really want to stop him because I think that’s the only thing that will shut his mouth. Pretend he’s walking around here like he’s Jesus or something. Well, I’m going to put him in a coffin this time.
‘This time I’ll stop him. I promise you. That’s why I was disappointed in myself during that last fight because I know I can stop him, but with all the circumstances going on I just went out and dominated him from start to finish. This time I will stop him if he wants to take a step. “
The challenge has been created, but Usman is still not convinced that a rematch with Masvidal will actually take place.
While Masvidal’s management team already called for the Usman fight after potentially serving as a coach in the next season of The Ultimate Fighter, the reigning welterweight champion isn’t too sure this is more than just lip service.
‘He doesn’t want that fight. I guarantee he doesn’t want that fight, ”Usman said. ‘I wouldn’t say if I didn’t want to. Have I lied to you yet? About everything? Nothing.
“I said what I wanted to do and that’s what I’m going to do. Let’s see if it becomes reality. “