After dominant win in his return at UFC Atlanta, what’s next for Kamaru Usman?

This past Saturday night in the main event of UFC Atlanta, we saw a big time matchup in the welterweight division. Former champion and divisional great Kamaru Usman (21-4) made his return as he took on surging top contender Joaquin Buckley (21-7).

Buckley was the pretty decent betting favorite entering Saturday night. We hadn’t seen Usman fight at 170 in over two years while Joaquin Buckley has been dominating welterweight going 6-0 with four stoppages. Nobody knew what to expect from the former champion.

Well, we ended up getting a vintage Kamaru Usman performance. In the first round, Usman was able to get a takedown and control Buckley. When many wrestlers get takedowns and control, it feels like they just ride out the round. That’s not Kamaru Usman. The former UFC welterweight champion beat on Buckley every time he got him on the ground.

Buckley was cut and bruised and experienced the Nigerian Nightmare for four rounds. In the final round, Buckley made some adjustments and kept the fight standing allowing him to have some success. However, he was in too deep of a hole and the former champion won a lopsided 4-1 decision at UFC Atlanta.

What’s next after UFC Atlanta?

This was an emotional win for Usman who hadn’t fought since October 2023 when he took an extremely short notice matchup against Khamzat Chimaev at middleweight. Many doubted Usman and didn’t think we’d see the same man who was the boogeyman of the welterweight division. Well, Usman proved that he’s still that on Saturday night.

After the win, Usman made it clear that he wants to face the winner of Jack Della Maddalena – Islam Makhachev for the welterweight title. However, given the picture at 170 pounds, I think Usman will need to fight one more time and there’s a perfect matchup for him.

I think the UFC needs to strike while the iron is hot and they need to book Usman against Belal Muhammad. There’s serious bad blood between the two men and it’s the perfect time for them to fight. Muhammad just lost the title and Usman just got back on track. If these two fight, the winner is right there for a title shot. Let these two fight and then you can book Sean Brady against Ian Machado Garry since they are starting to have some beef online.