UFC 261 took place this past weekend and featured a very stacked card that featured three different title fights. We saw Rose Namajunas and Valentina Schevchenko captured and retained the Women’s Strawweight and Flyweight title respectively. The headlining bout featured Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman defending his tile in brutal fashion by KO against Jorge Masvidal. This was Usman’s 4th title defense and once again an impressive finish by the ever developing champion.
Usman had once been criticized not only by the fan base but by Dana White especially after his “30%” comments when he had grinded out another strong wrestling heavy decision. HIs most recent matchups have been more impressive with some KO/TKO finishes over Colby Covington and former teammate Gilbert Burns.
Usman’s performances might induce a bit of recency bias for me but the question has to be asked is he starting to establish himself as one of the all time greats at 170 pounds? Kamaru is currently undefeated in the UFC with a 14-0 record and has not lost any fight at all since his second professional fight. Since then Usman is on an 18 fight winning streak and has not truly looked vulnerable in a lot of those performances.
The addition of the crowd to UFC 261 definitely aided to the atmosphere and overall effect of his KO to Masvidal as it helped the moment seem larger than the UFC’s other events without fans. Usman has defeated a lot of the top contenders at Welterweight outside of maybe Stephen Thompson being the last top 5 challenger.
There has begun to be a lot of social media chatter from the sport’s biggest star in Conor McGregor about getting a fight with Usman. McGregor has an extremely large social media presence and recently tweeted out that after he returns and reconquers lightweight he wants a shot at Usman to capture a third title within the UFC.
Fans have begun to speculate about the magnitude of this fight as McGregor has competed three times at 170 and currently holds a 2-1 record in the decision splitting a pair of fights with Nate Diaz and then his 40 second mauling of Donald Cerrone back in 2020. McGregor has been clamoring for a return to the Octagon and as we have seen in the past when Conor wants something the UFC normally eventually caves to his wishes.
I think the prospective of a McGregor vs Usman title fight is one of the most interesting “Super Fights” that has been discussed in quite some time. For instance, McGregor has captivated the sport with his brash and sometimes disrespectful personality towards other fighters so I think the fight week press conference for this matchup would definitely produce some fireworks. Usman has become no slouch on the microphone either and with some heat already beginning to form between the two individuals it would mean some fantastic back and forth.
In the cage presents a very interesting stylistic matchup as well as anyone who has seen a Conor fight knows he has arguably the deadliest left hand in all of MMA and often knows how to execute his game plan to perfection, which is keeping himself calm and relaxed and getting into his opponents head to set up countering opportunities. McGregor has a huge amount of highlight reel finishes in his time with the UFC and as a former two division champion the respect has to be given to Conor for what he can do in the cage.
On the opposite end there are two glaring issues in Conor’s game that have been exploited in his losses within the octagon. The first and I believe the most prevalent issue is his gas tank when he’s being grappled for rounds at a time. The first Nate Diaz fight saw Conor exhausted after the third round and that is what set up the fourth round finish, and the exact same thing essentially happened in the Khabib matchup at UFC 229. Conor has to manage his gas tank when he’s being dragged into deep waters during title fights, because this takes away his power and I think wears on his mental state in the cage as well. Similar to other sports the mental game in MMA as just as important as the physical and if something is off for a fighter then it can drastically change how they perform in the cage. I think that is where we see Conor’s second weakness in the cage as well and that is sometimes not staying as focused on the fight as he should.
The biggest example of this is looking at the Khabib fight Conor was more interested in taking verbal jabs at Khabib and trying to sell his Proper Twelve Whiskey to the fans that staying focused on his training and getting ready for a tough fight. There are two different Conor’s the one that is lazer focused examples being against Diaz and Khabib, and then when Conor is focused and determined to get what he wants is when we see the destruction of Donald Cerrone and the featherweight victory over Aldo and lightweight victory Alvarez.
Looking over at Usman’s fight game he has been rapidly evolving within a short time inside of the cage since getting into the title picture. Usman originally captured the belt from Tyrone Woodley and has since defended the belt 4 times. In those 4 defenses Usman has three finishes, which has changed a lot of the fan’s perspective on him.
Usman’s rise in the UFC was established through his strong wrestling and grappling ability which controlled his opponents and grinded hard fought decision victories. Since getting into the elite of 170 pounds working with Trevor Wittman, Usman’s striking has skyrocketed and he is quickly becoming a huge power puncher in the division.
Usman has begun to clear out a lot of the top contenders at 170 with possibly a rematch with Colby Covington being his next matchup, or if Leon Edwards racks up a win or two he could face the English Kickboxer. McGregor getting a shot at Usman would mean that he takes out one of the two top challengers to Usman’s belt. I think the more interesting matchup for McGregor would be to square off with Edwards as both men are dominant kickboxers and on paper it seems as though a fire fight would be promised.
The Covington matchup also has some interesting prospects as I do not feel as though Covington can out-strike Conor but his wrestling heavy approach could possibly wedge Conor in a position where he has to defend a lot of takedowns and wear out on his gas tank over the course of a 5 round fight.
McGregor wanting to become a three-division champion is definitely a possibility but having to face opponents who are naturally competing at 170 might be a tough matchup if he’s outsized as we’ve seen in the past when either a larger striker or stronger wrestler is standing across the octagon. I still don’t put it past Dana to book a McGregor title shot specifically off of the revenue it would draw, but for him to upset Usman would be a tall task.