Kamaru Usman’s welterweight title reign made him into a highly respected figure in the UFC.
While Usman’s knockout win over Jorge Masvidal, amongst other victories, earned him a lot of admiration, this wasn’t always the case.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ has had some controversial moments inside the Octagon, with Joe Rogan being particularly frustrated by Usman’s win over Demian Maia.
Having lost his last three, the former champion is looking to get back on track when Usman faces Joaquin Buckley in the main event of UFC Atlanta.
Back when his dominant win streak at 170 pounds was still alive, the rising contender earned some harsh reviews from Dana White following an underwhelming performance.
Kamaru Usman frustrated Dana White after claiming that he beat Emil Weber Meek at just ’30 percent’
In January of 2018, the Octagon returned to St. Louis, Missouri where Kamaru Usman would look to extend his UFC winning streak to seven.
This outing would see the #10-ranked contender fight backwards in the rankings as the former ‘TUF’ winner faced Norway’s Emil Weber Meek.
Meek had gone 1-0 inside the Octagon with a debut win over Jordan Mein, but his charismatic personality and exciting fighting style were no match for Usman.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ dominated the fight with his grappling, winning a clear-cut unanimous decision that earned a lot of boos from the crowd following a dull contest.
In his post-fight interview, Usman didn’t help the complaints by claiming that he was only fighting at 30 percent of his capabilities.
“Listen, I fought this fight sitting at about 30 percent. Everybody knows what I’m capable of. That was 30 percent right there and I still dominated a tough, so-called Viking. Dominated him and that was at 30 percent.”
Dana White was critical of Usman during the FS1 post-fight show when reflecting on this fight, disregarding the idea that he wants to face big name opponents after that win.
The win suddenly surrounded Usman in a lot of complaints of his style, though fans in the comments below the post-fight interview have pointed out that his statement aged very well.
“It’s one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard somebody say, and you’re getting booed out of the arena on top of it,” White said. “I don’t know. We’ll see what’s next for him.
“I didn’t love that fight. Yeah, he’s a tough guy. Yeah, he can impose his will. But you don’t jump up and start acting like you knocked somebody out and say you only went 30 percent. So what’s that mean? What if you’re on pay-per-view? Do you use 60 percent?”
Kamaru Usman blamed Dana White for the backlash that he faced after ’30 percent’ comment
During an appearance on The MMA Hour, Kamaru Usman clarified what he meant by his 30 percent comments.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ stated that he wasn’t referring to the effort that he was putting in but rather his health going into the matchup having dealt with some injuries ahead of the matchup.
Usman said that White misunderstood this, which then led to the fans taking the same approach.
“When you have a president that is so powerful like Dana White and he goes out in the media and says what he says, everyone just jumps on it. I swear if Dana says that, ‘You know what? An earthquake is going to happen tomorrow,’ everyone’s going to jump on it, ‘Oh, an earthquake’s going to happen tomorrow.’ That’s just the way that these UFC fans are.”
Usman would go on to beat Demian Maia and Rafael dos Anjos in convincing fashion before dominating Tyron Woodley to win the welterweight title at UFC 235.
