Former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman continues to take issue with fighters suggesting he ducked them.
Ian Machado Garry (15-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) recently said a potential fight with Usman (20-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC) was in discussion for Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 63 event in Tampa, Fla., before he wound up stepping in to face Shavkat Rakhmonov this past weekend at UFC 310. He lost the bout by unanimous decision.
Prior to UFC 310, Machado Garry went off on Usman, claiming that UFC brass told him the former longtime welterweight champion wants nothing to do with him.
Usman fired back at Machado Garry when podcast co-host Henry Cejudo suggested they should fight each other next in the aftermath of UFC 310.
“Does he even deserve that?” Usman said on his “Pound 4 Pound” podcast. “Leading up to this fight, there was a lot being said. He made a lot of things (up): ‘Everyone’s running from me, these guys are running from me.’ I don’t run from anybody, no one. I run from no one, and I don’t know too many guys that are going to run from anyone, because this is the game. We fight to make money.
“If we don’t fight, we don’t get paid. Anyone in the UFC has to step in there in order to get paid. So the notion of, ‘Oh yeah, they were scared of me, they were running.’ Like, who are you? Who are you that I, of all people, am scared of you? I guess he was upset because he wanted me to be his late-notice replacement for his fight. Who the f*ck is that guy for me to be a late replacement for?”
Usman hasn’t fought since stepping in on short notice to face Khamzat Chimaev in a middleweight bout at UFC 294 in October 2023. He rallied late to lose a majority decision.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 310.
