Despite having only won one fight in his last four, Kamaru Usman looks to be in prime position for the next welterweight title shot.
This past Saturday in the UFC 322 main event, Islam Makhachev became the latest fighter to win a title in a second weight class when he dominated Jack Della Maddalena for five rounds.
The main event wasn’t the only high profile welterweight clash on the card, though, as both Carlos Prates and Michael Morales picked up huge wins over Leon Edwards and Sean Brady respectively.
However, despite Morales picking up the most impressive win of his career thus far and Prates scoring back-to-back wins, neither seems likely to fight for the title next.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLCKamaru Usman reacts after being picked by Islam MakhachevIn attendance for the fights in New York was former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, who hasn’t fought since this past June when he dominated Joaquin Buckley.
Despite having not fought since June and being 1-3 in his last four fights, ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ is seemingly in a prime position to fight for the title again next.
Following his win, Makhachev revealed that Usman is his preferred first welterweight title defense, claiming that Usman could beat both Morales and Prates.
Who should Islam Makhachev fight next? Reacting to Makhachev’s comments, the 38-year-old said: “I think he’s right in the sense of, listen, Prates and Morales did a fantastic job, fantastic job, but with Prates, which Prates is probably my favorite welterweight right now to watch.
“I almost feel like if there are guys like myself and Islam in the division, you almost feel like if Prates was the champion, what happened to JDM is bound to happen (to Prates). Someone could do that to them.
“When I look at a guy like Islam, I don’t really see holes (in his game) and that’s something that scares me and that’s when you see some of the most spectacular performances, the last time I felt that was against Colby Covington,” he continued.
Makhachev and Usman both have the same manager‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ likely doesn’t have much longer left in the sport and if he fights for the title again, it will likely need to be now.
With that, a fight between the Russian champion and Usman will likely be easy to put together considering the fact that they are both managed by Ali Abdelaziz.
