Kamaru Usman Staying Ready To Serve As Replacement For UFC 228 Main Event
Kamaru Usman staying ready to jump in to replace one of the fighters who is fighting in the headliner of the UFC 228 pay-per-view event.
As seen in the main event of UFC Chile on Saturday, May 19, 2018 at Movistar Arena in Santiago, Chile on FOX Sports 1, Usman was able to defeat former title contender Demian Maia by unanimous decision. After the fight, Usman went on record by stating that he believes he deserves a title shot as a result of the biggest win thus far in his pro-MMA career.
Although he didn’t get a title shot, he did make a deal with the UFC where he would cut weight and train for the UFC 228 event. The reason for that is due to him being able to replace either UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley or challenger Darrel Till if one of these fighters couldn’t compete.
Woodley and Till made weight on Friday but anything can happen before the two fighters step foot inside of the Octagon. Thus, Usman is still keeping himself ready if anything happens.
“It’s definitely a weird position, especially at this stage of my career,” Usman told MMA Fighting. “But I attest my strength to deal with it with the training I’ve had, going through years and years of wrestling. Especially collegiately. You’re in a big tournament, you don’t know who you’ll get next.”
“It’s whoever gets through that guy that you get next. I like to think that I’ve had a lot of training for moments like this.”
He weighed in at 169 lbs at the official weigh-ins, which means that he is eligible to compete as a replacement fighter.
“At the end of the day, I’m a professional. I’ve been doing this shit for a long, long time. I don’t take this for granted,” he continued. “When I decided that I wanted to be a professional athlete…one thing about me is that my parents didn’t force me to be an athlete. My parents didn’t want me to do this. My dad, when I told him I wanted to wrestle, he told me no, if you’re going to play any sports play baseball.”
“You get paid a lot and there’s not that much contact. But for some reason I chose to do this. I chose to embark on this journey.”
The UFC 228 pay-per-view event is set to take place on Saturday, September 8, 2018 in Dallas, Texas at the American Airlines Center. The main card will air on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET. The preliminary card will air on FX at 8 p.m. ET and the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass, 6 p.m. ET.
