Back when Kamaru Usman was the dominant UFC welterweight champion, he expressed an interest in potentially trying to become a two-weight titleholder.
It’s the goal that every champion now wants to work toward, but there was one problem with this in Usman’s case. At the time, his friend Israel Adesanya reigned over the middleweight division and the two men had no intention of fighting each other
Usman, instead, threw the idea out there of him moving up two weight classes to take on the light heavyweight champion, Jan Błachowicz.
There was even a staredown between them backstage at UFC 276 where, all of a sudden, fans realized that there wasn’t much of a size disparity between them.
Kamaru Usman Makes His Opinion Clear On Fighting Jan Błachowicz At Light Heavyweight
During a recent episode of the Pound 4 Pound podcast, Usman spoke about this staredown with the Polish behemoth from several years ago, reflecting on how he felt about it at the time.
Błachowicz responded to the clip on social media, stating that he is still happy to take on “The Nigerian Nightmare.”
If you still feel the same about it @USMAN84kg, let’s go. I will be ready. https://t.co/hiYf2MvhtK
— Jan Blachowicz (@JanBlachowicz) May 25, 2024
Following Błachowicz’s post, Usman gave his reaction via the podcast where he said that his words were taken out of context.
The former welterweight champion states that he was talking about his viewpoint at the time rather than currently, where his thoughts on the fight have since changed.
“Obviously they didn’t watch the whole pod and they didn’t get the fact where I said then, when he was champion, I liked the matchup because it made sense, we were fighting for something. Listen, I respect each and every UFC fighter that steps in there, in that Octagon, and even with Jan Błachowicz, I respect him, the original ‘Polish Power’.
“Big respect for Jan Błachowicz but I thought that matchup favoured me and I wanted that matchup when Jan Błachowicz was the champion and I was the champion. I am no longer the champion, he’s no longer the champion so that fight makes absolutely no sense, it does nothing for me. If I go up there and I beat Jan Błachowicz, what does that do for me? Nothing, it’s just another paycheck.”
