Kamaru Usman's best win

[Skarsgard]

His best win was breaking Colby's jaw and finally getting him to shut up

If anything that made Colby talk more.

 

[richardjohnson]

One thing I will say about Usman is he received a lot of unwarranted criticism for avoiding “real” contenders when he never did. Rematching Masvidal was completely pointless but outside of that the real problem was Usman was the most active fighter in the division and the guys that should’ve been fighting to earn a fight with him chose to sit on the sidelines and wait.
The reality is there is no one that earned a TS during Usman’s time as champ that didn’t get it.

 

[volcom5]

I remember people arguing Usman > GSP and at that time saying hold the fuck on he hasn't even passed Hughes yet.

Now it seems like the world has come to its senses at least

GSP
Hughes
Usman

I never understood it. I blame Dana on that one, he said it and the new fans ate it up similar with Adesanya.

Often people forget that a body of work matters when it comes to be being considered GOAT in a division, Rush St Pierre has that and defended against various styles of opponents while his rematches made sense. GSP title at WW of being the greatest has a high possibility of never being surpassed.

 

[Dr. Rose]

I remember people arguing Usman > GSP and at that time saying hold the fuck on he hasn't even passed Hughes yet.

Now it seems like the world has come to its senses at least

GSP
Hughes
Usman

I would almost put Woodley ahead of Usman. Much better wins throughout his career, and a good case for better wins when he had the strap too.

 

[gotBooched]

I am grateful for him destroying Colby

 

[gotBooched]

I would almost put Woodley ahead of Usman. Much better wins throughout his career, and a good case for better wins when he had the strap too.

Agree
Father Time was Woodley's greatest nemesis, too little too late

 

[Dr. Rose]

Agree
Father Time was Woodley's greatest nemesis, too little too late

I think he also stopped caring too, but yes, Father Time dragged him into retirement.

 

[TempleoftheDog]

If you look at Usmans record his most impressive win was beating Tyron Woodley for the belt.

His second best win is against Gilbert Burns.

I find it interesting that if he beats Buckley in a few weeks, that will probably be the best win of his career. I'm not sure how this guy was seen as being a MMA Mt Rushmore type. Definitely one of the most overrated legends of our time if you look at his actual record. This is no fault to him though, he fought who was around at that time. I guess lots of people passed on WW during his come up not wanting anything to do with GSP.

Except it literally is HIS FAULT.

He called out Masvidal for a rematch. After beating him 50-45, because Usman “didn’t finish” Masvidal. And Masvidal hadn’t fought anybody else in the meantime. Usman did fight Burns between the Masvidal fights.

Champions do not call out anybody.. Let alone a journeyman he just foot stomped to a win.

Other than his activity. He’s one of the worst champions in UFC history, imo.

 

[Aurelian]

Hear me out. Sean Strickland is probably his best win.

 

[VAfan]

I remember people arguing Usman > GSP and at that time saying hold the fuck on he hasn't even passed Hughes yet.

Now it seems like the world has come to its senses at least

GSP
Hughes
Usman

came in to say this. seems like yesterday we were seeing all the 'better than gsp' threads. and they tried to do it with woodley too, even funnier. i think a lot of people just can't stand GSP being the GOAT for some reason.

 

[Psychojoe86]

Usman was awesome and gets so much unwarranted hate around this site.

-title win over woodley was a total domination and essentially ended his career
-2x over Covington who had an almost identical dominant run with Usman when they first battked
-fought thru adversity and handed Gilbert his first loss at welterweight
-beat Strickland and Leon before even winning the title, 2 future champions in the ufc

Usman was less than a minute away from beating Leon 2-0 in mma, and thus winning his 6th title defense, surpassing Hughes best reign of 5

Usman fell short of major accolades. That’s just how high GSP set the bar in the division.

 

[AndrewGolota48]

This thread honestly shows the limitations of the human brain. It's assessing Usman and his opponents from the current state of affairs, with a completely inability to put those wins/opponents in the context of when they took place. I honestly can't stop laughing it's like I'm on a psychedelic. Imagine recency bias making you think that Colby/Jorge/Woodley/Burns went quality wins because they're all old and shot now. And then of course the younger fighters like Leon and Strickland don't count because they were too green.

 

[Psychojoe86]

One thing I will say about Usman is he received a lot of unwarranted criticism for avoiding “real” contenders when he never did. Rematching Masvidal was completely pointless but outside of that the real problem was Usman was the most active fighter in the division and the guys that should’ve been fighting to earn a fight with him chose to sit on the sidelines and wait.
The reality is there is no one that earned a TS during Usman’s time as champ that didn’t get it.

Usman was unpopular due to several factors

-he talked a lot of trash
-he talked about beating canelo in boxing
-he declared he would go to LIGHTHEAVYWEIGHT and beat blajovich for the title
-he fought Masvidal twice in an essential pointless rematch
-he ducked Khamzat

I was a huge fan of Usman and it’s a shame he’s not being remembered fondly, but once he did finally lose, sherdog went after him fast

 

[Trabaho]

you are the type of guy who started watching mma in recent years, go to fight finder and than has this imagie in your head that someone like Buckley comes close to a champ like Woodley. You gotta live to see it as it´s happening. If you check the stats after the fact, and you see Woodely 4 losses in a row. I mean in short how did you conclude Buckley was a better win than Tyron, Colby or Burns ? Buckley only beat a washed up of the couch Colby. Buckley wouldn´t be top 5 best wins of Usman.

 

[xhaydenx]

Thing is, he was boring as shit up until winning the belt. Then he goes in this finishing run and exciting fights( minus first Jorge fight)

You usually get real boring when you become champ. He did the opposite.

Man, that is true.

Come to think of it, I can't even remember Usman when he was boring haha.

 

[mkt]

Tyron was the furthest from being shot when he lost to Usman; aside from that, I agree with everything.

Woodley was a few weeks away from turning 37 when he fought Usman. He lost his final 4 fights and retired. So I think it's very possible he was a couple of years past his prime, though not totally washed or anything. The same thing happened to a lot of WWs in their 30s. Two of Woodley's early wins--Lawler and Koscheck--fell hard once they started losing. Koscheck had one of the worst falls. Lawler managed to win some fights late in his career, but was never the same after losing the belt.

 

[mkt]

He was a great fighter. 8 year, 19 fight unbeaten streak where you derail a guy some were (prematurely imo, but still) hyping up as potentially surpassing GSP, as well as beating Colby x2, Strickland, RDA, Leon, Maia etc...its nothing to scoff at. A faded version of Usman was one of the few people to not get completely steamrolled by Khamzat too.

Eh, WW Strickand was kind of like WW Whittaker. RDA and Maia were old by then. Colby was absolutely roasted on here for fighting both of them. I'm not sure if Masvidal deserved one title shot much less two. But beyond that, the Colby wins were better than most people give him credit for, Woodley wins was nice and Burns may have been his best since it was a 2nd round finish.

 

[mkt]

wouldn´t be top 5 best wins of Usman.

I don't know. Usman might be a decent test, but I don't think we'll know how good Buckley is until he starts fighting guys who aren't 37+ years old on long losing streaks. We need to see him against a Garry, Brady, Morales, etc.

 

[xhaydenx]

-he ducked Khamzat

lol what the fuck? How did he duck Chimaev?

When Usman won the belt Chimaev wasn't even in the UFC.

In the entirety of Usman's time as champ, Chimaev had only beaten low level guys. He finally went life and death with Burns and got a decent win. That was the same Burns that got flogged by Usman a year earlier.

That was in April 2022. Usman was set to fight Leon in Aug 2022, in a fight he lost.

You think he was ducking Chimaev because he fought Leon instead of a guy who had only just beat one decent guy that he himself had beaten way more easily a year before? Or was he ducking Chimaev because he didn't fight him off wins of Leech, GM3, and freaking Rhys Mckee? lol.

 

[Bouboumaster]

Usman was never going to be a better fighter than GSP, but he had a solid run

3rd best WW ever in my book

His best win IMO is his K.O. of Colby