Kamaru Usman doesn’t have to worry about Conor McGregor in the cage, but that won’t stop oddsmakers.
For whatever reason, Conor McGregor has decided to pick a social media fight with everyone under the Octagon sun. Granted, this isn’t anything new. McGregor has always invited the most chaotic elements of spectacle. When it comes to trash talk, everyone is fair game. And I do mean ‘everyone.’
So naturally, following a shotgun approach to provoking as many fighters as possible, Kamaru Usman would get caught in the crossfire. We’ve already been through the first act, which started on Monday.
Tremendous! I love this record! I fight for the 170lb title I will spark him too.
That would be fastest ko in ufc title fight (13 seconds)
Most knockdowns in ufc title fight (5)
And then another KO in a ufc title fight.
3 title fights. 3 ko’s. 3 new records.
It’s right there! https://t.co/80iI59klPN— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) August 16, 2021
Usman fired back.
Spark who?? You must be talking about that pipe you’ve been smoking. Unlike you, if I’m gonna talk shit ill @ U. Now be quiet before I call Poirier or Khabib or Diaz to finish you again #P4P https://t.co/2jSlVOkRXM
— KAMARU USMAN (@USMAN84kg) August 16, 2021
In the commotion, SportsBetting.ag put together odds for a potential bout.
Kamaru Usman -700
Conor McGregor +450
There’s nothing to power a potential fight between the two other than the raw force of verbal will. Usman is set to defend his belt against Colby Covington for UFC 268. Actual welterweight contender Vincent Luque is on Dana White’s radar. McGregor, meanwhile, is coming off two losses to Dustin Poirier. His two welterweight wins were over Nate Diaz, and a beyond-his-prime Donald Cerrone.
Technically, there’s precedent for a fight like this. Chael Sonnen was coming off a loss at middleweight for the title against Anderson Silva when he talked his way into a light heavyweight title fight versus Jon Jones at UFC 159. The UFC ‘production truck’ can always revise McGregor’s last fight as nothing more than a freak injury. But that injury is set to keep McGregor out until next year, making potential odds nothing more than hit air. Stranger things have happened, though. Especially as title legitimacy wanes.