Reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight champion Kamaru Usman plans to defeat longtime rival Leon Edwards in the UFC 278 pay-per-view (PPV) main event this weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah, then pack on some extra muscle (a lot of that going around these days) and fly straight to the light heavyweight division.
He might want to check with promotion president Dana White before packing his bags.
“That’s crazy, he’s never said that to me,” White told MMA Underground. “But I mean, when you look at those guys, you’re looking at (Jiri) Prochazka, Glover (Teixeira), Jan (Blachowicz), Magomed (Ankalaev) … I mean, these guys are fucking monsters. Yeah, I think that’s a bad idea. The guys at middleweight are big. I mean when you start talking about (Jared) Cannonier, (Robert) Whittaker, (Marvin) Vettori, Israel (Adesanya), those are scary guys at that weight. (Alex) Pereira … even (Derek) Brunson — you’ve got a guy like Brunson who can wrestle too, you know what I mean? Tough one.”
Usman planned to skip middleweight to avoid fighting fellow countryman Israel Adesanya.
Jiri Prochazka is the current light heavyweight champion and stands 6’3” with an 80-inch reach, one of many reasons “Denisa” holds a frightening 25 knockouts in 29 wins. Elsewhere in the 205-pound Top 5 are former champions Glover Teixeira and Jan Blachowicz, along with surging light heavyweight bruiser Magomed Ankalaev.
A tall order for any UFC fighter … particularly a welterweight.