Former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman says he doesn’t understand why the judges scored the main event of UFC 328 the way they did.
In a split decision upset, Sean Strickland defeated Khamzat Chimaev to become the new UFC middleweight champion of the world. It was an extremely close fight, but at the end of five rounds, two of the three cageside judges in New Jersey sided with the challenger.
Following the bout, UFC president Dana White came out and said he agreed with the decision, as did legendary MMA official “Big” John McCarthy. But Usman thinks the judges blew it.
Kamaru Usman Disagrees With Judges
If there’s anyone who knows what Strickland and Chimaev bring to the table, it’s someone like Usman, who actually fought both of them inside the Octagon. At UFC 210 in April 2017, Usman defeated Strickland by unanimous decision in a welterweight bout. Then, at UFC 294 in October 2023, Usman lost a majority decision to Chimaev in a middleweight contest. So, it’s fair to say that Usman offers a unique perspective on both fighters since he has been inside the Octagon with each of them.
Speaking on the “Pound 4 Pound” podcast alongside his co-host, fellow UFC legend Henry Cejudo, Usman said that he scored the UFC 328 main event for Chimaev, and he didn’t understand why the judges gave the decision to Strickland.
“I give the fight to Khamzat Chimaev. This is my thing, I don’t understand how you win the fight when you were backing up the whole time? And you threw nothing but jabs, really. Listen, when one guy is marching forward, he’s throwing jabs as well, and he’s mixing it up, throwing overhands, and he does get some takedowns in there — and he did this for almost five rounds — I don’t see how he loses this fight. The other guy just backed up and jabbed the whole time,” Usman said (via Bloody Elbow).
While Usman’s opinion is to be respected, in the end, the only opinions that mattered were those of the judges, and two of the three felt like Strickland did enough to defeat Chimaev that night.
Kamaru Usman Rumored to Fight Dricus Du Plessis
Although nothing is official yet, there are heavy rumors that Usman is going to move back up to middleweight and fight former champion Dricus Du Plessis this summer, potentially at UFC Oklahoma City.
When the rumor of this fight first appeared on social media a few weeks ago, it was a bit surprising, since Usman has spent most of his UFC career as a welterweight. But now that Strickland is the UFC middleweight champion, and Usman has a previous win over him, the move makes a lot more sense. Usman has always said that his goal was to be a two-division UFC champion, and he was one of the greatest welterweight champions in UFC history for several years. But he now has his sights set on the middleweight title, and should he get past Du Plessis this summer if they indeed fight as is rumored, then a rematch with Strickland later this year or next year becomes a very real possibility for “The Nigerian Nightmare.”
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