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Kamaru Usman is arguably the most dominant fighter in the UFC today. He's currently riding a 19-fight win streak, having claimed the likes of Colby Covington, Jorge Masvidal, Gilbert Burns, Tyron Woodley, and Demian Maia along the way.
His wrestling remains impregnable, with even NCAA Division I standout Colby Covington being unable to wrestle him.
Meanwhile, Kamaru Usman's striking — his jab, especially — has undergone a vast improvement due to the time he spent sharpening his boxing with Trevor Whitman.
Yet, 'The Nigerian Nightmare' is not unbeatable. There are gaps in both his offensive and defensive striking, and the fundamental role his wrestling plays in creating openings for his striking and vice versa can be exploited.
Thus, some welterweights possess the skill-set to defeat the Nigerian. Some of them, he has already faced. However, others have not yet crossed paths with the current UFC welterweight champion. This list cites 5 welterweights capable of defeating Kamaru Usman.
#5 Gilbert Burns
Gilbert 'Durinho' Burns is one of the welterweights that has already faced Kamaru Usman. While he lost to the reigning champion, Burns fought admirably. In fact, he remains the only fighter to have ever dropped 'The Nigerian Nightmare' in a bout.
The Brazilian possesses the tools necessary to defeat the welterweight kingpin. The strength of his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skill-set serves as a deterence for Kamaru Usman's most powerful weapon: his wrestling.
Without the ability to take his foe to the ground, the Nigerian's avenues to victory are severely limited. Furthermore, in the striking department, Burns' frequent use of the calf kick should — on paper — trouble his former training partner due to Usman's overreliance on his jab.
Not only does the welterweight champion always throw his jab, he does so with proper form. He steps in as he jabs, extending his stance and committing all of his weight behind it. The tradeoff, however, is that Kamaru Usman exposes his lead leg to low kicks.
The calf kick, in particular, works well as a counter to the jab. As the shorter fighter, Burns can use his longest weapon — his leg — to attack the closest target, which is Usman's lead leg: countering him every time 'The Nigerian Nightmare' steps in to jab.
Not only will it damage Kamaru Usman's leg and limit his effectiveness while striking, but it will disrupt his stance, creating openings for 'Durinho' to land right overhands and left hooks whenever Usman must recover his stance.
Additionally, as the shorter and faster fighter, Burns can use one of his favorite punches — the overhand right — to counter Kamaru Usman's jab and intercept him every time he steps into range.
And with the punching power Burns possesses, it is not inconceivable that he can knock the Nigerian unconscious on the counter. While Kamaru Usman can switch stances to render Burns' calf kicks ineffective, the Brazilian's familiarity with the Nigerian as a former training partner likely means he'd be prepared for such a switch-up.
#4 Khamzat Chimaev
While much is said about Khamzat Chimaev's performance against Gilbert Burns, it cannot necessarily be used as a means of predicting how he'd fare against Kamaru Usman.
Chimaev himself stated that the reason behind his decision to abandon his wrestling during his bout with the Brazilian was due to the submission threat Burns posed, describing a sequence on the ground where Burns almost caught him with an armlock.
Kamaru Usman, however, poses no submission threat, so it will not deter 'Borz' from wrestling with him. Furthermore, the Chechen's size and strength are attributes the Nigerian is yet to face.
Chimaev stands at 6 feet 2 inches tall and was strong enough to outwrestle middleweight contender Jack Hermansson in a freestyle wrestling match. In the striking phase of combat, the Chechen contender applies heavy pressure, closing the distance against his foes where his tight hooks can land with optimal power.
As Kamaru Usman relies on the jab, he will struggle to use it if he is not afforded the time and space to throw it. At mid-range, he will be forced to throw more looping punches, which he struggles doing with proper form.
Not only will his jab not be as effective against a taller foe who knows how to fight from close range, he will struggle to impose his wrestling against a larger, stronger athlete with Chimaev's freestyle wrestling acumen.
#3 Colby Covington
'Chaos' has fought Kamaru Usman twice. Though fans cannot universally agree on the outcome of both fights, with Colby Covington himself claiming to have won the 2nd bout while disputing the merits of the stoppage in their 1st outing, the Nigerian still boasts two wins over the All-American.
However, both bouts were closely contested. The former interim welterweight champion's wrestling neutralized his foe's wrestling and vice versa in both encounters.
Thus, both fights were largely kickboxing affairs, in which 'Chaos' did surprisingly well. He often slipped Usman's jabs and crosses, countering his foe with left overhands and right hooks as he turned in at angles.
In their rematch, Covington even seemed intent on countering Kamaru Usman's jab with calf kicks until the Nigerian switched stances, which neither 'Chaos' nor his team had accounted for.
However, with his new knowledge of his rival's stance-switching, Covington might pose a stiffer challenge should a third bout be scheduled.
Lastly, the All-American is one of the few welterweights with the cardio necessary to keep up with and even overcome Kamaru Usman. Covington's best rounds in their last matchup were the later rounds where 'The Nigerian Nightmare' seemed to slow down slightly while his volume only heightened.
#2 Shavkat Rakhmonov
The undefeated Kazakh fighter seems unstoppable in his current form. He is a towering welterweight, standing at 6 feet 1 inch in height while possessing a reach of 77 inches, surpassing even Kamaru Usman's reach of 76 inches.
Rakhmonov often starts every fight from the outside, using his reach and distance management to dictate the pace of his bouts.
He stands just beyond his opponent's kicking range, which would neutralize the effectiveness of Kamaru Usman's jab as the Nigerian is not a prolific kicker and will have no other distance management tools.
Whenever Rakhmonov stands a few inches closer, now only beyond his foe's punching range, he throws various non-committal strikes and feints to assess his opponent's reactions.
This enables him to make easy reads based on his foe's preferred reactions to specific fakes and feints, while allowing the Kazakh phenom to easily hop out of reach if his opponent lunges forward.
Once Rakhmonov is comfortable with the amount of reads he's made, he throws his strikes with pinpoint precision as their trajectory and purpose are informed by his opponent's reactions.
This renders him a highly efficient counter-striker who can pace himself while simultaneously devastating his foes by landing blows with such accuracy that they usually stun everyone he faces.
This will all but neutralize Kamaru Usman's striking, forcing the Nigerian to rely almost solely on his wrestling. However, as Rakhmonov stands on the outside, he forces opponents to shoot in on his hips from too far away, allowing him to easily feed them his hip, overhook one of their arms, and shove their head down to his ankle to hop out of takedowns.
Lastly, the Kazakh fighter is comfortable wherever the fight takes place, boasting a perfect eight wins by submission and eight by knockout.
#1 Leon Edwards
Another of Kamaru Usman's former foes, Leon Edwards is set to take on the reigning welterweight champion in a rematch scheduled for UFC 278. Most fans remember the loss but might not recall exactly how the 1st bout transpired.
While Usman won, the matchup was more competitive than often claimed. 'Rocky' was by far the superior striker and was able to limit the amount of damage his foe dealt on the ground until the Nigerian's superior cardio allowed him to take over the fight.
Both fighters have improved since that fight, and the British-Jamaican has become extraordinarily difficult to take down. As a striker, he often fights from southpaw, using his lead hand to trap the lead hands of orthodox foes to neutralize their jab.
This will nullify the effectiveness of Usman's jab and force the Nigerian to switch stances. If he forces the reigning champion to fight from a southpaw stance, Edwards' superiority will be even more pronounced if Kamaru Usman attempts to throw southpaw jabs.
Against southpaws eager to jab with him, Edwards often relies on looping cross-counters over the top.
While Kamaru Usman remains the better wrestler, 'Rocky' has become defensively impregnable. Given that many of the Nigerian's takedowns come from the clinch, he will struggle against Edwards, who excels there.
The welterweight contender often uses his forearm to frame it against his foe's jaw, shoving against it to create space. As a wrestler, Kamaru Usman will likely attempt to turn at an inward angle to improve his chances for a takedown.
Unfortunately, he will turn into a Leon Edwards elbow from his foe's non-framing side as this is how the British-Jamaican often catches opponents with elbow strikes in the clinch. He convinces them to turn towards him as he steps across them to land hard elbows.
