Kamaru Usman has shrugged off criticisms after UFC fans branded the welterweight king ‘the most boring champion’ on social media following his successful title defence against Jorge Masvidal on Sunday.
The American was beaten by Usman over five rounds, and struggled to deal with the champion’s exchanges, as the Nigerian Nightmare dominated almost every contest.
Usman’s display earned him scores of 50-45, 50-45, 49-46 from the three judges after five rounds.
The win over Masvidal ties Usman with Georges St-Pierre for the longest welterweight winning streak (12) in the UFC. It was also his 17th career win.
However, fans hit out at Usman, who was asked directly about the criticism in the UFC 251 post-fight press conference.
“Well, maybe they need to get in there and fight Jorge Masvidal for 25 minutes and then say something,” he said.
“That’s the thing, there was a time when people started hating Floyd Mayweather because he was so dominant.
“Floyd’s defence was so good, he was so good at what he did.
“Oh, that’s boring, he’s not fighting” because people want to see a bar fight?
“We’re risking our lives in there. And we’ve trained.
“What was the point of training each and every day and then go in there for a slugfest?
“You can train to be able to make someone miss and control them in a certain way.
“That’s what training is for, so you’re not in there taking punishment at will. I do that well than anybody.
“They can say whatever they want. I worked for 25 minutes. Even when we were up against the cage, I worked for 25 minutes. ‘I gave him opportunities where he could have got off the cage, but he was content staying there and I kept working.
“Whoever’s saying that, they can say whatever they want but come share the octagon with Jorge Masvidal for 25 minutes and let’s see (then) what they’d say.”
The 33-year-old refused the opportunity to call out a specific name for his next fight, but did concede it was his dream to take on Georges St-Pierre, who retired in 2017.
