UFC 251: Kamaru Usman not fooled by Jorge Masvidal’s six days’ notice narrative – ‘been training whole time’

Kamaru Usman said he was cracking open a beer when he received the call that Jorge Masvidal would be stepping in to fight him at UFC 251 in Abu Dhabi this weekend.

UFC welterweight champion Usman (16-1), who is the promotion’s first African title-holder, had travelled home to Florida and loaded up on food after hearing about original opponent Gilbert Burns testing positive for Covid-19 on Friday.

“We tried to reach out to Masvidal – he said no. We tried to reach out to Covington – he said no. So no fight, all right I can eat now, I’m good,” Usman told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto.

“I haven’t had a beer in maybe 10 months and I’m at the airport walking by a Mexican restaurant. ‘You know what, I’m gonna have a beer and some food’. As soon as I’m literally twisting the cap off, my phone rings. It’s [manager] Ali [Abdelaziz]. ‘Hey, you gotta fight’. Well, let’s go ahead and put this cap back on. I didn’t even take on swig of it.”

The 33-year-old Usman, who is on an 11-fight win streak in the UFC and has not lost in his pro career since 2013, described his need to “mentally refocus” and seeking his “council for guidance” before getting on board to fight “Gamebred” Masvidal (35-13).

“It’s been a roller coaster but at the end of the day this is what champions are made of ... with Masvidal I guess the case was always [contract] negotiations, but thankfully they got the deal done and I have a fight,” said “The Nigerian Nightmare”.

Usman warned fans not to be fooled by the “narrative” that the 35-year-old Masvidal is taking the fight on six days’ notice. Masvidal has not fought since beating Nate Diaz via third-round doctor’s stoppage for the BMF belt in November last year.

“Then you start seeing all the headlines. It made me a little uncomfortable, but that’s been the story of my career. There’s already a built-in excuse here ... they’re trying to still keep this guy up. He’s been training for one guy this whole entire time, which is me,” he said.

“I just did a full training camp for another guy and I’m the one risking everything. This is a win-win for him. After he gets beat up, it’s a built-in excuse that he took the fight on seven days’ notice anyway.

“He’s been training, don’t be fooled by that – like he’s coming off the couch to fight. You’ve seen the videos of him bringing this and that wrestler to help out. He’s been training the whole time,” Usman said, adding that there are still “more hurdles and tests” before the pair face off.

After hearing that Masvidal said he would “baptise” Usman to the point that he was “gasping for air”, Usman returned with a few digs of his own.

“He has this narrative that he’s this gangster, this tough guy. We all know he’s a fighter, but he’s not this animal that everyone thinks he is. He’s a regular guy ... don’t let this guy fool you,” said Usman, who last fought in a fifth-round TKO win against Colby Covington in December 2019.

“I’m gonna bless him with these hands in any way possible. Whether he’s on his back, standing up, I will be blessing him. Whether he lets me bless him quickly in the first round and there’s no more suffering, or he could take it like Covington and I will bless him for 24 minutes and get him out of there.”