Pound-For-Pound king Kamaru Usman wants MMA fans to know that he’s “not that guy” when it comes to trash-talking opponents.
In light of all the callouts and trash talk from multiple fighters, Usman wants to make it clear to those who dislike him for not being more verbally aggressive that it just isn’t like him to do so.
Recently, Conor McGregor has thrown some verbal punches at the welterweight champion, disrespecting his skills as a fighter and claiming he will strip him of the title. Additionally, the #3-ranked Khamzat Chimaev laughed at Usman’s chances to win a boxing match against the revered Canelo Alvarez.
Other fighters have done the same and Usman has kept a calm and collective demeanor about it, although he is well aware that MMA fans love to see and tweet about fighters that can talk up a good game before a fight.
“We live in this society nowadays to where it’s everybody for some reason everyone hates the good guy. People love to they don’t want to talk they don’t like the good guy they don’t wanna talk about the good guy. ‘Oh he’s not talking enough (censored), you know, he’s not doing that, breaking phones’ everybody loves to say that. They love to hate those guys,” Usman explained in an interview with Sky Sports.
The way Usman proves himself to opponents is by dominating them in the Octagon. With his grappling and boxing skills, Usman has proved time and time again that he is unmatched in the UFC‘s welterweight division.
At this point, he does not feel the need to go out of character and act like the bad guy. So long as he remains the champion, Usman couldn’t care less about pleasing fans or other fighters’ requests to scorch someone on the mic or on social media.
“They can hate all they want. But when they step inside that Octagon, I am the pound-for-pound king and each and every opponent will understand that.”
What are your thoughts on Kamaru Usman not wanting to trash-talk other fighters?