Kamaru Usman recently spoke about his conversations with UFC’s Hunter Campbell.
Usman has already laid out his lofty ambitions for 2026, which start with him becoming a two-time welterweight champion.
Turning down an offer from the UFC to fight Dricus du Plessis only proves that he’s committed to reaching the top of the 170 pound division again.
However, his recent comments about the promotion’s stance on him challenging current titleholder Islam Makhachev suggest that they’re going in a different direction.
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Kamaru Usman says it’s been a ‘tumultuous back and forth’ with the UFC about Islam Makhachev clash
Kamaru Usman’s latest comments on what’s next for him led to him revealing that he and the UFC’s Chief Business Officer aren’t on the same page about the fight that he wants next.
Islam Makhachev and his team have regularly selected Usman as their preferred first challenger for the welterweight title.
The issue with this is that many have argued that there are more deserving contenders in the division right now outside of ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’.
“For some reason, we’ve had conversations but Hunter Campbell feels differently and Hunter Campbell is like, ‘Maybe not’,” he said during a recent episode of the Pound 4 Pound podcast. He wants to go a different way. We don’t know yet, it’s still not, they haven’t come out and said, ‘Okay, Islam is going to get this guy or Islam’s going with me’ but it’s been a tumultuous back and forth.”
Usman certainly has the accolades and skillset to make a fight between him and Makhachev look interesting on paper.
The issue is that he rebounded from a three-fight losing streak last year and hasn’t fought since, while other contenders have been putting together more impressive streaks and delivering highlights.
It wouldn’t have been surprising to see Usman get the next title shot due to his name value but it likely would’ve caused a lot of pushback from fans.
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If Kamaru Usman isn’t fighting Islam Makhachev next, who is?
Kamaru Usman might be the biggest name that Islam Makhachev could fight at welterweight but there’s another contender out there who tends to make a lot of noise.
Fans theorized that Ian Machado Garry is facing Makhachev next when he posted about travelling to Georgia.
The Irishman has said in the past that if he was matched up with the Russian, this is where he would go to prepare himself for the biggest fight of his career.
Nothing has been confirmed as of yet but Machado Garry looks to be in a very strong position if the UFC aren’t sold on the idea of Usman being next.