Kamaru Usman says an early punch to the eye really hurt him against Dricus du Plessis.
On Saturday, Usman faced off with du Plessis in the main event of UFC Oklahoma City, losing a clear unanimous decision. For 25 minutes, Usman struggled to get much going against the former middleweight champion and was repeatedly stunned by shots from the bigger man. Nevertheless, “The Nigerian Nightmare” hung tough, winning the fifth round on two of the judges’ scorecards, an accomplishment made all the more impressive given that in the second round, Usman ate a punch to the eye that severely compromised his vision.
“I couldn’t get going,” Usman said in the post-fight press conference. “He was big, he was strong, he was rangy. So, it was a little tough to get going. I took kind of a thumb-punch in the eye early on, and that kind of blurred the vision a bit. But no excuses. It is what it is.
“I was pretty compromised,” Usman added. “Like I said, he’s a big boy, and when you start seeing two of the big boys, and he’s got kind of a weird, rangy shots. So it’s a little delayed to get out of the way of those shots, seeing them. But no excuses. It’s tough to be on this side. I’m not used to being on this side. So yeah, it kind of sucks.”
Not only was Usman compromised by the early strike, but apparently, the former welterweight champion also entered the bout with some issues, which he only hinted at in his post-fight comments.
“My ability to do what I want kind of surprised me,” Usman said. “Because like I said, each and every fight, we’re dealing with something, but you guys never hear of it. Especially with me, because most of the time I come out here and I’m victorious, so you never hear about what I’m dealing with coming in. But when you’re dealing with something, and it kind of hinders you and your ability to go out there and do exactly what you want to do, fight the way that you know you can fight, it kind of sucks a bit.”
Usman refused to elaborate on what he might have been dealing with coming into the bout, telling reporters this is no different from previous fights, other than the fact that he lost.
“Oh, I’m dealing with something every time,” Usman said. “Most fighters deal with something all the time, and we overcome it. Most of my career, deal with something, overcome, go out there and you get the dub, and you guys never hear of it. Just like you won’t hear of this one.”
The loss puts Usman in a tricky situation. Moving up to take on du Plessis, Usman hoped to put himself in the title mix at both 170 pounds and 185 pounds. Instead, he’s now outside of the immediate title picture, and so moving forward, the former welterweight champion says he’s just going to stay open for big opportunities.
“We’ll see where there’s next opportunities at,” Usman said. “Listen, opportunities always come up, like taking on Khazmat Chimaev on eight, seven days’ notice, whatever that was — opportunity came up. Masvidal on six days’ notice —opportunity came up. And there’s been a couple of little ones that didn’t necessarily materialize that I’ve kind of almost jumped in line for. So, opportunities always come up, and look, Michael Bisping was middleweight champion of the world. Let’s not forget that opportunity came up, he jumped on it, he was a middleweight champion.
