Kamaru Usman has a plan in mind for his career, at least he did before his UFC 278 loss.
Kamru Usman is no longer the welterweight champion. After holding the belt for so long, Usman began to envision different paths for his career. Usman was at the top of the UFC pound-for-pound list, talking about trying out boxing and toying with the idea of moving up in weight. However, all those new endeavors have been put on hold with on monster kick to the head.
The main event of UFC 278 saw Leon Edwards knock out Kamaru Usman and become the UFC welterweight champion. This loss may have derailed some plans of Usman’s as he will now most likely rematch Edwards next in hopes of regaining his belt. Usman was a guest on The Joe Rogan Experience where he revealed his ultimate game plan for the rest of his career prior to the loss.
Kamaru Usman has a plan in mind for the remainder of his professional career
“I used to say, oh, man, maybe a couple more fights and I’m done, but with the newfound hunger that Leon has sparked, it’s like well we’ll do this a little bit more,” Usman explained. “I would say this was my roadmap, my roadmap was beat Leon in the way that I wanted to and go to 205, beat Jiri Prochazka, defend with Yan, come back down, defend with Khamzat, and then if Conor wanted to, or if Canelo at that point wanted to, then just sail off.”
Usman had big plans that included a move to light heavyweight. As a welterweight, these ideas of jumping two weight classes seem extreme, but Usman has his reasons. Moving up in class, to middleweight would make the most sense, but Usman’s friend Israel Adesanya is the champ there and that fight does not interest him. Light heavyweight seems like the better choice for Usman because he can see a path to victory there among the top fighters at 205 pounds.
“It’s a big jump but I think I have the style and I have the mental ability to be able to handle those guys. Well, I won’t say those guys. Not everybody, but a couple of those guys and they happen to be the guys that are at the top,” he said. “So I think I could deal with Jiri and I could deal with Yan. I’m not saying they’re not great, they’re scary. They’re f–king big scary guys. It’s kind of what makes it also tempting for me. It’s good. They are scary. It’s like you get to a certain point where you’re looking for new scary things to do to kind of keep you motivated.”
Usman’s plan is not completely out of the question at this time. He must first beat Edwards in a rematch and then the rest might fall into place. The UFC has already expressed interest in a trilogy fight between these two and could be entertaining England for the location next year.
