Shavkat Rakhmonov is yesterday’s information.
Former UFC welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman, has larger fish to fry now that Sean Brady has cemented himself because the division’s No. 1 contender. Usman, 37, missed all of 2024 with quite a lot of accidents and private setbacks, however is hoping a victory over Brady is sufficient to recapture a few of his former glory.
Which incorporates a number of welterweight title defenses.
“Whenever you have a look at kinds and the way in which that fights work, myself and Colby Covington, what did everybody say? ‘Oh, they’re each wrestlers. They’re each economical fighters.’ And also you noticed what that turned out to be,” Usman mentioned on his Pound 4 Pound podcast. “We cancel one another out, we ain’t even going to attempt to grapple, let’s bang it out. This has the potential to be a kind of fights. I like Sean Brady. I like the way in which he approaches the sport, and naturally he’s coaching with Din Thomas now, in order that provides an additional aspect to the sport. I like each, however I wish to preserve that streak of beating all of Din Thomas’ guys.”
Usman (20-4) has not accomplished since falling brief in opposition to Khamzat Chimaev in a middleweight affair as a part of the UFC 294 pay-per-view (PPV) in Abu Dhabi. As for the 32 year-old Brady (18-1) he’s lower than per week faraway from his submission victory over former welterweight champion, Leon Edwards, atop the UFC London card throughout the pond.
“If I needed to decide the order, I’d say Brady, Shavkat, (Joaquin) Buckley,” Usman continued. “That’s what is sensible as a result of the winner of Brady and I, we struggle for the title subsequent as a result of should you have a look at what Sean Brady simply did, he simply took out a former champion. Then you definately struggle one other former champion, and if he’s capable of get via me, it’s laborious to disclaim him that he shouldn’t struggle for the title. Who else within the division has a resume like that? Nobody, if Brady is in a position to try this.”
Belal Muhammad will defend his welterweight strap in opposition to No. 5-ranked Jack Della Maddalena atop the UFC 315 struggle card in Might, although it’s not but clear who will get first crack on the 170-pound title within the wake of their Montreal mashup. That call may rely upon how rapidly Rakhmonov rebounds from his latest knee harm.
