Former UFC two-division champion Henry Cejudo thinks if Kamaru Usman wants to separate himself as an all-time great, he has to move up a division and win a second title.
Usman (20-1 MMA, 15-0 UFC), the reigning UFC welterweight champ, notched his fifth title defense when he defeated Colby Covington this past Saturday at UFC 268, and he’s already drawing comparisons to former UFC welterweight and middleweight champ Georges St-Pierre for his dominant reign.
As a fighter who likes to collect gold himself, Cejudo said Usman has to put his friendship with UFC middleweight champ Israel Adesanya aside and fight him in order to truly be considered the pound-for-pound best.
That, and the fact that the Olympic gold medalist in wrestling sees Usman’s grappling posing a lot of problems for Adesanya (21-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC).
“I’m sure if it’s the African pride, I kind of get that, but I don’t get that,” Cejudo said on “The Triple C & Schmo Show.” “Actually, as a matter of fact, I really don’t get that because to me, it’s all about legacy. Somebody else in the near future is going to be able to go through the same run that Kamaru Usman did. But the difference is that, can you win a second belt? And can you defend that second belt? And that’s what I want from ‘The Nigerian Nightmare.’ I want him to go up. I want him to fight Izzy (Adesanya), and I just believe he has a perfect style to beat somebody like Izzy because he has wrestling.”
Israel Adesanya (left) and Kamaru Usman.
Considering Usman already holds wins over four of the top seven ranked UFC welterweights, including Covington and Jorge Masvidal twice, Cejudo doesn’t see too much left for Usman to prove in his division.
“You’ve already lapped the division, Kamaru Usman,” Cejudo said. “You’ve already beat Colby twice. You’ve already beat Masvidal a couple times, too. The winner of Masvidal and Edwards, I mean, you’re gonna beat Edwards again. There’s only one take in my side, and that’s saying go up and fight your African brother because this is about legacy.”
Henry Cejudo: Kamaru Usman should chase second UFC title, has ‘perfect style’ for Israel Adesanya