Kamaru Usman and UFC 286... Fingers Crossed!

Welcome back to the world of Dana White’s periodic circus. 2023 has been absolutely crazy already. Valentina Shevchenko repeated the mistakes of her last fight and got submitted. Jon Jones returned to his controlled-sociopathic best and did what nobody expected when he dispatched Cyril Gane like a fixed fight. Seems like getting continually robbed has finally nullified the fear-factor of Petr Yan. Islam Mackachev did get his win, but Volkanovski immediately went into whataboutism (which is why I keep telling people to be careful when they attribute normal virtues to prize fighters) instead of admitting that he was no longer p4p. It’s been a crazy year so far. And looking forward, its going to get even better. But let me shed a bit of a tear. What a terrible 2022 it was for me.

First, the first African champion, the one who started the three kings era, the Nigerian nightmare, was put to absolute sleep in a sequence I still don’t believe to this day. Then Israel Adesanya followed suit is similar fashion, not quite going to sleep but just short of lights out. And in the most ill-advised, annoying, what-the-hell-is-going-on-here manner, Francis Ngannou, after defending his title in a career proving performance, gets into a fight with his former fanboy-boss Dana White. And to end the year, we hear that Ngannou is out of the UFC and no longer the Heavyweight Champion. For someone who’s a Nigerian fan and only started watching MMA avidly in 2017, 2022 has been my worst year yet.

So what’s next? In 2022 terms heres a something that keeps me up at night. Kamaru Usman comes into London feeling confident. So does Leon. They both make weight. The O2 fills up. and as the fight starts we get the sense that Leon Edwards has the monkey off his back. He goes forward. And Usman takes a step back. Leon feints a kick and Usman reacts like he’s seeing ghosts. Repeat once. Repeat twice. And 25minutes pass to complete Kamaru Usman’s transition into Tyron Woodley 2.0. Oh and that’s not all.

Israel Adesanya is next. He comes in and in the first round Perreira goes crazy. Swinging that left hook repeatedly and this time, he does go to sleep proper. And somewhere down the line, Francis Ngannou gets a fight with Wilder and (I know this is harsh but we’ve seen helenius, splizka) Ngannou falls into a vegetative state by October. Oh, and that’s my way of admitting that I fear that Ngannou might actually die if he gets into the ring with a real boxer. He hits too hard for it to remain ‘an exhibition’, and when the boxer sees he has to get him out of there, it could be dangerous.

But that’s 2022 thinking. This is 2023. This is the year of the reclaim. This is the year of the rebirth. This year has to be better right? I have no prediction for the fight this Saturday. I just have my guy; Kamaru Usman. For God’s sake come out to Nigerian music like you used to, preferably Burna Boy. And don’t listen to Trevor Whitman. Do what you did against Masvidal in fight Island. Do what you did against Tyron Woodley in your first Title Fight. Do what you did against Leon in the first fight. Grind it to a boring but decisive victory. Cause you need to win. Israel needs a cheerleader. And so do I.

Bring on 286!!!