"He had that fire in him" - Aung La N Sang praises former teammate Kamaru Usman

Aung La N Sang has nothing but great memories and nice things to say about UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. The two were former teammates at Sanford MMA in South Florida before Usman left the gym.

Today, Usman is considered one of the greatest fighters in the history of MMA and his legend is still growing. In a recent interview with ONE Championship, Aung La N Sang spoke about how Usman has reached unprecedented levels of success in his career:

“If you watched Kamaru’s fights, he has very high fight IQ. On the weekends, he would commentate for Titan FC. He watched a lot of live fights. And that’s how he built his fight IQ. He immersed himself into mixed martial arts. He would train during the week, and on the weekend, he would commentate for Titan FC and stuff like that."

‘The Burmese Python’ knew from the very start that Usman had what it took to be something great:

“I always had a hunch. You could tell he was special, that he had a build for it. He had that fire in him. He was the total package, as far as mixed martial arts goes. [He has] great grappling, great wrestling, and then great boxing too.”

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What Aung La N Sang respects most about Kamaru Usman

Training together in the United States, Aung La N Sang and Kamaru Usman found a lot of common ground. ‘The Burmese Python’ says he could relate to Usman’s struggles and triumphs:

“His family were immigrants and coming from nothing, he made something out of himself. That’s what I respect the most about him. Through hard work, sweat, and tears, he made something of himself. And he gives back to his community, he gives back to Nigeria, and stuff like that. That’s something that I respect a lot.”

He continued:

“We’re not super close. But I can always message him and reach out to him. Like, of course, when he left the gym, we weren't that much in [contact] anymore. When he was with Sanford, I would go to his house and we would work out. We would do strength and conditioning together. So, yeah, we're friends, when we see each other outside, we talk and stuff.”

It may be far-fetched at this point, but Aung La says he wouldn’t be averse to Usman joining ONE Championship. He says that ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ would be a perfect fit for the Asian martial arts organization:

“He's very talented and he's respectful. He doesn't really talk crap with other people. And through and through he's a good dad, and he's a good martial artist. So I think [Usman] would be a good fit, a great fit.”