Kamaru Usman put on a frighteningly dominant performance (watch highlights here) over former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos in the main event of last night’s (Fri., November 30, 2018) The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 28 Finale from The Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The victory kept “The Nigerian Nightmare” undefeated in the UFC. It also has him on the edge of title contention. If you listen to UFC President Dana White, Usman may just be there already. White offered his adulation of Usman’s performance on the FOX Sports 1 post-fight show. In a rare move, he admitted he was wrong about the outspoken wrestler:
“Listen man, I haven’t given the kid any credit yet because I felt like he talked too much and didn’t do enough. So we put him in there with a guy I have a lot of respect for, former world champion “RDA,” and Usman looked like a stud tonight.”
Title Shot Next?
White said Usman fought so effectively that he wants to see him fight welterweight champ Tyron Woodley:
“You know from the first round, he actually got stronger as the fight went on, throwing tons of punches, kicks, wrestling. Stood up and went toe-to-toe with him a few times. I was impressed. I’m telling you, I wanna see the Woodley fight, that’s what I want. But we’ll see.”
The next shot was expected to go to interim champion Colby Covington. But White didn’t sound so optimistic for “Chaos’s” chances due to his inactivity. It was somewhat strange to hear considering Covington just beat dos Anjos in his last appearance as well.
Because of Usman’s more recent domination, he wants that match-up instead:
“I mean, it was a great fight. Covington’s obviously there. I’m one of these guys, man, I’m always like, if you just fought and you came off a great performance against a stud like ‘RDA,’ I’m looking at you. Covington hasn’t fought in a while, he got injured, he didn’t defend his title, you know, all that stuff. Listen, in one fight, I used to talk a lot of smack about Usman and in one fight, this guy turned me around. And you know, makes me excited to see the Woodley fight.”
White was then asked about other top 170-pound contenders that Usman could face instead of the title fight. He admitted that while there were other good challengers, he has tunnel vision for the Woodley fight:
“Yeah, we’ll see. You know, you’re right. There’s obviously a couple of good options out there, but after seeing what I saw, all I can think of is Woodley.”
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