Former UFC champion Kamaru Usman revealed he has big plans to wrap up his career in MMA.
The former UFC welterweight champion Usman stepped into the cage earlier this year to defeat Joaquin Buckley and says he still plans to conquer a new division. On his YouTube podcast, Usman said he would take another shot at the welterweight title and then move on to another division.
“Absolutely, you’re thinking about the fight,” Usman said of his mindset on his YouTube channel. “When you’re going into the fight, it’s not so much ‘I’m afraid of being hurt’ or ‘I’m afraid this guy might hurt me.’ I’m not afraid of that anymore. It’s crazy how the whole point of it is you’re afraid of losing. It’s like, ‘Man, I did all this work. I can’t lose. I can’t lose.’ That becomes the fear, which ultimately can either hinder you or actually put you in a place where you perform greater than your expectations.”
“In this part of my career, the dream scenario is next fight, win the welterweight title,” Usman said. “Vacate. Win the middleweight title. Retire. Just boom boom, one, two, and then be done. Because you can’t top that. What else do I want?”
Usman owns one of the most successful runs in UFC history, having won his first 15 fights for the promotion after making his debut in 2015. He defeated Tyron Woodley for the welterweight title at UFC 235 and went on to record five consecutive title defenses.
After losing the belt to rival Leon Edwards and then again falling to Edwards in a rematch, Usman made a brief move up to middleweight on short notice to fight Khamzat Chimaev, resulting in his third straight loss.
