Former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman finally became victorious for the first time since November 2021.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ battled Joaquin Buckley throughout all five rounds to win by unanimous decision in the main event of UFC Atlanta.
The Auchi-born fighter expressed his thoughts during the post-fight interview, proving that he can still fight at the top level of the Welterweight division.
“It’s been a while,” said Usman. “I know I’m still able to do this at the highest level.”
“Sometimes when you’re going up against a young, hungry guy like that, [Joaquin Buckley] very talented, very aggressive, you’ve got to pull out the skills and use the experience and that’s what I did tonight.”
Usman maintained his position in the top five of the Welterweight rankings, but it does leave fans thinking what could be next for the Nigerian.
Usman’s next opponent
After snapping his three-fight losing streak, the #5 170-pound contender has some options to consider in his next battle.
With two of his three UFC losses being for the Welterweight title, Usman only seems to be one more fight away from entering title contention again, but who will he face next?
Belal Muhammad
Muhammad has recently lost the Welterweight title to Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315, and now that he is the #1 contender, it would be a perfect matchup for the ONX Sports fighter.
The matchup seems perfect, as both are talented wrestlers in MMA, while having arguably the most underrated striking in the division.
Muhammad is open to the potential fight as the winner will be guaranteed an opportunity at the Welterweight Championship next.
Sean Brady
The #2 Welterweight contender entered title contention when he defeated Leon Edwards in enemy territory by fourth-round submission at UFC London.
Usman has fought Edwards three times, defeating him early on in their UFC careers, but lost to him twice at UFC 278 and UFC 286 for the Welterweight belt.
Brady has only lost once in his MMA career, which would make him a challenging opponent for ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ as he is on a three-fight winning streak as well.
Just like Usman, Brady has incredible wrestling as well as showstopping BJJ, which could put the former champion up to the test in a possible future bout.
Shavkat Rakhmonov
Arguably, the 38-year-old’s toughest test could be the undefeated Kazakhstan fighter who has blazed through the rankings at 170 pounds.
Rakhmonov has stopped 18 of his 19 conquered opponents, with only his last fight going the distance as he defeated Ian Machado Garry by unanimous decision at UFC 310.
‘Nomad’ has been more of a submission threat in the UFC but has caused problems on the feet as well, which is why this could be Usman’s biggest title statement victory, if he is successful.
The likelihood of this battle happening may be rare, as the #3 contender has been focused solely on the 170-pound title since December, hoping to face the winner of Jack Della Maddalena vs. Islam Makhachev.
What else happened at UFC Atlanta?
In the co-main event, Rose Namajunas picked up a unanimous decision win against Miranda Maverick to keep her spot in the Flyweight rankings at #7.
Edmen Shahbazyan, Raoni Barcelos and Alonzo Menifield all claimed unanimous decision triumphs as well to increase their winning streaks.
Mansur Abdul-Malik was also victorious, but by technical decision after a clash of heads with Cody Brundage forced the bout to end and go to the judges’ scorecards.
The featured prelim, between Paul Craig and Rodolfo Bellato, ended in a No Contest after an illegal upkick from Craig supposedly knocked out the Brazilian, right at the end of round one.
Michael Chiesa increased his winning streak to three after a convincing unanimous decision win against Court McGee.
Ricky Simon and Jamie-Lyn Horth also claimed unanimous decision victories in rather dominant fashion.
Philip Rowe, Jose Ochoa and Malcolm Wellmaker were the only fighters to earn stoppage wins, all by knockout.
Rowe put on an incredible comeback victory to defeat Ange Loosa late in round three after being knocked down himself.
Ochoa knocked out Cody Durden at the start of round two, defeating a former Flyweight contender and perhaps the next big prospect at 125 pounds.
Wellmaker arguably earned the best knockout of the night when he stopped Kris Moutinho with a powerful right hook in the first round, making it his fourth consecutive triumph by KO/TKO.
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