UFC Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman is set to corner his long-time friend Francis Ngannou as he takes his second attempt at gaining the heavyweight title against the champion Stipe Miocic.
During an interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, the Welterweight champion explained what he believes Ngannou has to do in order to emerge victorious come Saturday night.
“I think he has to be relaxed,” Usman said. “We put so much pressure on ourselves because we understand what us being a champion does to where we’re from, we understand that and that’s a lot of pressure to put on yourself and I think he just needs to relax.”
“If he’s able to relax, I mean we’re looking at one of the scariest men on the planet, to date. So if he’s able to relax I think he will shock a lot of people with his newly acquired skills.”
As far as Usman’s involvement in Ngannou’s corner, the champion won’t be leading the delivery of commands come fight day, his role instead is to embark knowledge from his experience of being in championship fights.
This will be Ngannou’s second shot at the title with the first coming back in 2018 against the same opponent Stipe Miocic.
Since this first fight, both fighters have suffered ups and downs with Ngannou taking a second loss in his return to Derrick Lewis before going on a four-fight knockout streak.
Miocic on the other hand suffered a loss to Daniel Cormier before beating him in the last two fights of their trilogy.
As for what is next, either fighter who emerges champion after UFC 260 will be set to face former Light-Heavyweight champion and pound for pound number one fighter Jon Jones as he makes his divisional debut in the Heavyweight division.
Who do you think emerges victorious at UFC 260?