Kamaru Usman contemplated jumping up two weight classes to cement his status as MMA’s pound-for-pound best.
Usman (20-1 MMA, 15-0 UFC), the UFC’s reigning and defending welterweight champion, has already notched five title defenses, which has placed him as the promotion’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, according to the organization’s official rankings.
Having already beaten the likes of Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal twice, Usman has almost cleared out his division’s top contenders. But with his good friend and fellow Nigerian Israel Adesanya sitting on the middleweight throne, Usman says he pondered going up 35 pounds to challenge Jan Blachowicz (28-9 MMA, 11-6 UFC) when he was light heavyweight champion for a chance to become dual-champ.
“I was going to skip Israel and go fight Jan at 205 (pounds),” Usman said in an interview with GQ. “Because I’m pound-for-pound, I want to prove it. No matter what weight it is, I thought he was a really good matchup for me.”
He continued, “I think I would beat him.”
Blachowicz defeated Adesanya to notch his first title defense at UFC 259, but was later dethroned at UFC 267 by Glover Teixeira, who dominated the Polish fighter with his grappling.
Usman is currently healing from a hand injury stemming from his most recent title defense against Covington at UFC 268 in November and is projected to rematch Leon Edwards next.
