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UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman suffered a quick defeat to UFC middleweight Deron Winn in a freestyle wrestling match in 2012. The Nigerian Nightmare was annoyed at the outcome and the same is visible in his body language in the post-fight formalities.
The video of Kamaru Usman's wrestling match with Deron Winn was uploaded on the YouTube channel USA Wrestling, the official channel of the national governing body for Olympic wrestling in the USA.
Kamaru Usman and Deron Winn fought in the second round of the 2012 Dave Schultz Memorial International wrestling tournament, in the 84kg category. The tournament was created to honor the memory of American freestyle wrestler and 1984 Olympic gold medalist Dave Schultz. Usman's challenge in the tournament came to an end after losing to Narsingh Yadav of India in the fifth round.
A lot less of Kamaru Usman's freestyle wrestling career is documented than his illustrious MMA career. However, Kamaru Usman has come a long way from his wrestling days and emerged as one of the most well-rounded fighters.
The Nigerian Nightmare is known for his dominant wrestling game in MMA. He is one of the few wrestlers to have effectively mixed their wrestling with other aspects of MMA to find great success in the sport.
Kamaru Usman and Deron Winn's MMA career trajectories
After making his MMA debut in the same year against David Glover, Kamaru Usman has amassed an impressive 18-1 record in MMA. He holds wins over some of the best MMA fighters in Gilbert Burns, Tyron Woodley, Colby Covington, Rafael Dos Anjos and Demian Maia to name a few.
Kamaru Usman became the first African-born UFC champion by defeating Tyron Woodley at the UFC 235 PPV event in March 2019. He will attempt the fourth successful defense of his welterweight title against archrival Jorge Masvidal at UFC 261, scheduled to take place on April 24, 2021.
Usman's conqueror Deron Winn (7-2 MMA) continued with his wrestling career until 2016 and made his MMA debut the year after. Currently signed with the UFC, Winn fights in the 185lbs middleweight division - the division above Kamaru Usman's.
However, Deron Winn is currently 2-2 in his UFC career and is yet to put on a breakthrough performance that will put the UFC middleweights on notice.
