chooses his fights carefully and hopes fans understand why.
If not, he has some not-so-friendly advice for her.
The former UFC welterweight champion recently stated that he is available for a fight at after Rakhmonov was originally scheduled to face the current defending champion . Remember the Name was forced off Saturday's roster due to injury, freeing up a spot in the promotion's final pay-per-view of 2024 even though they trained at the same gym.
Eventually he got the call to face Rakhmonov and apparently Usman was criticized by fans for his decision. On his Pound-4-pound He responded to the criticism in the podcast.
“It’s a fascinating fight,” Usman said. “That’s a fight I could potentially slide into. I've brought this up a million times, which is crazy to me because I see people on the internet saying, “Oh, are you scared?” You cower? Are you ducking? Are you scared? Are you scared?' What?
“I'm like, 'Wait, what?' That's the same feeling I think people have . It's like when people, where you're fans or fans of a fighter, don't get the wish that they want, “That's the fight I want,” then it's like, “That guy needs to be scared.” because he didn't. 'Take the fight.' So people, shut up. Keep your mouth shut. We intervene there every time – I have 22 or 25 fights, I don't know how many, but everyone thinks, “Oh, you're scared.” World champions and defending champions kept saying, “Oh, he's scared.” Keep your mouth shut . Just because you didn't get what you wanted. Imagine it’s like your mother telling you, “No, you can’t have that toy today.” So keep your mouth shut.”
Usman hasn't fought since in October 2023. At that event, Usman moved up a weight class for a short-notice fight with the undefeated . After a slow start, Usman recovered and gave Chimaev a tough fight, but he lost by majority decision.
It's unclear what Usman's next move will be as he looks to end a three-fight losing streak (including two title fight losses). ), but he sees a path where he ends up sharing the octagon with Rakhmonov or Garry.
“Honestly, when I put my pro hat on, I can imagine a world where Ian Garry can do it, but I don't really care about either guy, so I don't care,” Usman said. “I don’t choose. Whoever it is, at some point I have to see it and do what I do, but I don't really care. But I can imagine a world where Ian can do it. Shavkat is very good and very dangerous, but I can imagine a world where Ian can do it.”
Usman chose not to declare a winner for the co-main event of UFC 310. However, he warned that the highly anticipated fight between the undefeated welterweights may not live up to the hype from an entertainment perspective.
“I don't hate in any way, shape or form, I love the fight on paper, but I don't think it will be as exciting as people think,” Usman said. “People expect blood and this and that. I don't think that will be the case because Ian Garry is a smart fighter who is ready to dance around for 30 minutes. He'll dance around. He's willing to do that to create the space he needs to try and land his attacks.
“Shawkat, not necessarily. Shavkat will play the game with you for a while, but eventually Shavkat will want to get started. So if Ian doesn't want to get started, we know it takes two to tango. If Ian doesn't want to get going this fight might not be the bloodbath everyone was expecting, everyone is craving it and saying 'Ooh aah' but on paper I think it's a fantastic fight and someone's O has to go. “
