Former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman lastly grew to become victorious for the primary time since November 2021.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ battled Joaquin Buckley all through all 5 rounds to win by unanimous choice in the principle occasion of UFC Atlanta.
The Auchi-born fighter expressed his ideas through the post-fight interview, proving that he can nonetheless struggle on the prime stage of the Welterweight division.
“It’s been some time,” stated Usman. “I do know I’m nonetheless in a position to do that on the highest stage.”
“Typically whenever you’re going up in opposition to a younger, hungry man like that, [Joaquin Buckley] very gifted, very aggressive, you’ve received to tug out the talents and use the expertise and that’s what I did tonight.”
Usman maintained his place within the prime 5 of the Welterweight rankings, nevertheless it does go away followers considering what might be subsequent for the Nigerian.
Usman’s subsequent opponent
After snapping his three-fight shedding streak, the #5 170-pound contender has some choices to contemplate in his subsequent battle.
With two of his three UFC losses being for the Welterweight title, Usman solely appears to be another struggle away from coming into title rivalry once more, however who will he face subsequent?
Belal Muhammad
Muhammad has just lately misplaced the Welterweight title to Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315, and now that he’s the #1 contender, it could be an ideal matchup for the ONX Sports activities fighter.
The matchup appears good, as each are gifted wrestlers in MMA, whereas having arguably probably the most underrated placing within the division.
Muhammad is open to the potential struggle because the winner might be assured a chance on the Welterweight Championship subsequent.
Sean Brady
The #2 Welterweight contender entered title rivalry when he defeated Leon Edwards in enemy territory by fourth-round submission at UFC London.
Usman has fought Edwards 3 times, defeating him early on of their UFC careers, however misplaced to him twice at UFC 278 and UFC 286 for the Welterweight belt.
Brady has solely misplaced as soon as in his MMA profession, which might make him a difficult opponent for ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ as he’s on a three-fight profitable streak as effectively.
Similar to Usman, Brady has unimaginable wrestling in addition to showstopping BJJ, which might put the previous champion as much as the take a look at in a doable future bout.
Shavkat Rakhmonov
Arguably, the 38-year-old’s hardest take a look at might be the undefeated Kazakhstan fighter who has blazed via the rankings at 170 kilos.
Rakhmonov has stopped 18 of his 19 conquered opponents, with solely his final struggle going the space as he defeated Ian Machado Garry by unanimous choice at UFC 310.
‘Nomad’ has been extra of a submission risk within the UFC however has prompted issues on the toes as effectively, which is why this might be Usman’s largest title assertion victory, if he’s profitable.
The chance of this battle taking place could also be uncommon, because the #3 contender has been targeted solely on the 170-pound title since December, hoping to face the winner of Jack Della Maddalena vs. Islam Makhachev.
What else occurred at UFC Atlanta?
Within the co-main occasion, Rose Namajunas picked up a unanimous choice win in opposition to Miranda Maverick to maintain her spot within the Flyweight rankings at #7.
Edmen Shahbazyan, Raoni Barcelos and Alonzo Menifield all claimed unanimous choice triumphs as effectively to extend their profitable streaks.
Mansur Abdul-Malik was additionally victorious, however by technical choice after a conflict of heads with Cody Brundage compelled the bout to finish and go to the judges’ scorecards.
The featured prelim, between Paul Craig and Rodolfo Bellato, resulted in a No Contest after an unlawful upkick from Craig supposedly knocked out the Brazilian, proper on the finish of spherical one.
Michael Chiesa elevated his profitable streak to a few after a convincing unanimous choice win in opposition to Court docket McGee.
Ricky Simon and Jamie-Lyn Horth additionally claimed unanimous choice victories in moderately dominant trend.
Philip Rowe, Jose Ochoa and Malcolm Wellmaker have been the one fighters to earn stoppage wins, all by knockout.
Rowe placed on an unimaginable comeback victory to defeat Ange Loosa late in spherical three after being knocked down himself.
Ochoa knocked out Cody Durden initially of spherical two, defeating a former Flyweight contender and maybe the subsequent massive prospect at 125 kilos.
Wellmaker arguably earned the perfect knockout of the night time when he stopped Kris Moutinho with a strong proper hook within the first spherical, making it his fourth consecutive triumph by KO/TKO.