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Speculations of an epic welterweight title clash between former UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor and the reigning king of the 170lbs division, Kamaru Usman have been gaining a lot of steam recently and now that Usman himself has started speaking about it, don't be surprised if the matchup is announced in the near future.
Kamaru Usman's manager Ali Abdelaziz recently took to Twitter to offer Conor McGregor an opportunity to capture an unprecedented third title in a fight against "The Nigerian Nightmare". Abdelaziz also taunted the Irishman by saying that Kamaru Usman won't take him down in the first two rounds of the fight.
“@TheNotoriousMMA hey you want a title shot?” Abdelaziz wrote after top welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal expressed interest in a rematch with Nate Diaz rather than a fight with Usman. “Come to daddy. @USMAN84kg will give you one and he promise first 2 rounds without takedowns only slaps.”
McGregor is yet to respond to the challenge laid down by Ali, but given the fact that it's a title fight and the lightweight division already has a title unification bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje set to go down in September, the former Champ Champ might just give his nod to the bout against Usman.
Kamaru Usman has spoken out on Abdelaziz's suggestion and sounds very confident about dominating McGregor in a potential clash inside the Octagon. Usman said that if the fight indeed comes to fruition, he doesn't expect "The Notorious One" to be able to cause him any trouble inside the cage.
“I really don’t understand why you all want this man DEAD!!!” Usman wrote. “I’d shag him in there if I wanted and he’d DO NOTHIN’. FOH.”
Conor McGregor has fought thrice at welterweight previously, and holds a 2-1 record in the division with a win and a loss against former rival Nate Diaz and the most recent destruction of Donald Cerrone at UFC 246.
However, Usman is a different beast. The man has dominated the best welterweights in the world and how. Stylistically, a matchup against Usman would be a difficult one for McGregor given the former's world class grappling skills; however, like the saying goes - "high risk, high reward". No matter what, it ill be interesting to see McGregor's response to the challenge.
