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UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman recently recalled that he gave Conor McGregor a shot at his title. Usman claims that McGregor’s didn’t take him up on the challenge.
Conor McGregor is a former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion. Besides, McGregor has often suggested that he’d like to capture the UFC welterweight title as well.
On that note, current UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman – who’s held the title since March 2019 – had challenged Conor McGregor to come fight him. However, that fight didn’t come to fruition. Speaking to TMZ Sports, Usman recalled the same and stated:
“It’s tough to be out of the game for so long and still come back and do it at the high of a level. Not saying that he (Conor McGregor) can’t do it; you know. It’s just very, very tough to think that, ‘oh, I’ve just been chilling, and now I’m just gonna come in and beat the next best fighter in the world’. Of course, I know what it is, as a mixed martial artist, to lose and what you feel after that. And it’s never good, and I don’t wish that on anybody.”
“But, at least, for Conor, he’s got a mountain of money that’ll help cushion that fall for him. So, it is what it is. But, you know, he talked a big game about potentially; you know, I think his word for word was, 'You know that 170 (UFC welterweight) belt is looking quite nice’. But then I gave him the opportunity to come out there and take the belt. And he really didn’t want that.”
“So, more power to him. I don’t kind of kick somebody when they’re down. Because that’s just, I think, that’s a little low of me. But if Conor ever wanted it, we’ll see if he deserves it and we’ll give him a shot. But if not, then he’ll stay in that (lightweight) division and try to beat the best in that division.” (*H/T Sportskeeda for the transcription)
Furthermore, Kamaru Usman opined that Conor McGregor can return to his winning ways despite McGregor’s recent knockout loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 257.
A fight between Kamaru Usman and Conor McGregor is unlikely to happen in 2021
The MMA world consensus is that a potential UFC welterweight title fight between Kamaru Usman and Conor McGregor is unlikely to take place anytime soon. Both Usman and McGregor are expected to have busy schedules in the 2021 calendar year, albeit in the welterweight and lightweight divisions respectively.
Kamaru Usman’s next fight will witness him putting his UFC welterweight title on the line against Gilbert Burns at UFC 258 on February 13th, 2021.
On the other hand, Conor McGregor and his team have consistently asserted that they would like McGregor’s next fight to be the trilogy matchup against Dustin Poirier.
