It’s still unclear if Kamaru Usman intends to stay at middleweight after his loss at UFC 294, but Robert Whittaker says he'd be open to sharing the Octagon with him if he remains in the division.
A former UFC welterweight champion, Usman successfully defended his belt on five occasions and was unbeaten in the UFC before he suffered back-to-back losses to Leon Edwards.
It would have been understandable for “The Nigerian Nightmare” to look for a step down in competition after losing consecutive fights for the first time in his career, but instead Usman stepped up on short notice to replace Paulo Costa and make his middleweight debut against Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294.
The former welterweight king gave a good account of himself against Chimaev but unfortunately lost a majority decision, and Whittaker discussed Usman's decision to move up to middleweight on a recent episode of his MMArcade Podcast.
“I’m happy Chimaev and Usman, that fight did happen, because it just adds more blood to the top of the game,” Whittaker explained. “It adds more boys to the top of the charts, which is – like interesting fights. What’s next for Usman? Is he gonna stay at middleweight? I don’t know, but that fight interests me. I like that fight. I’d fight a middleweight Usman.”
A former welterweight himself, Whittaker moved up to the middleweight division in 2014 and went on to become UFC champion before he was knocked out by Israel Adesanya at UFC 243.
“The Reaper” came up short in a rematch with Adesanya last year and most recently stepped into the cage against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 290. Whittaker was stopped in the second round of that fight in a major upset, and now it appears the former champion is eager to get back into the cage after seeing two new fighters join the middleweight division last weekend.
“[Usman] definitely deserves a fight at the top of the charts of the middleweight division. How well he’ll do, we will see. But seeing fresh blood at the top of the game, that’s interesting. I like it. Seeing Chimaev and Strickland fighting, that moves things around. I like it. It makes things interesting and exciting.”
The UFC’s middleweight division is currently in an interesting spot after Sean Strickland stunned Adesanya at UFC 293 and became champion thanks to a unanimous decision victory.
Dana White indicated ahead of UFC 294 that the winner of Chimaev vs. Usman would be next in line to challenge Strickland, and many fans are curious to see how “Borz” performs in a five-round fight after he appeared to fade somewhat in his last outing.
If you use any quotes from this article, please leave an H/T to MMAKnockout.com for the transcription.
More must-reads: