UFC on FOX 20’s Kamaru Usman: I think USADA is ‘doing a remarkable job’

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Updated: July 22, 2016

On Saturday, July 23rd at UFC on FOX 20 in Chicago, top welterweight prospect Kamaru Usman will be taking on Alexander Yakovlev on the televised portion of the preliminary card. Usman is already 2-0 inside the Octagon and 7-1 in his young career, having made a name for himself as part of the winning Blackzilians team on season 21 of The Ultimate Fighter. BloodyElbow.com’s Zane Simon and T.P. Grant had previously touted Usman as the #1 welterweight prospect on their 2015 MMA Scouting Report.

As we draw nearer to Usman’s showdown against Yakovlev, Bloody Elbow’s Three Amigos Podcast recently caught up with “The Nigerian Nightmare,” who discussed everything from his top 15 aspirations, the USADA era, his advice to fellow up-and-coming fighters, implementing his decorated NCAA wrestling skills in MMA, and much more.

TAP: You’ve been brought along steadily with the quality of opponents you’ve faced thus far in the UFC. With a win against Yakovlev, a very tough opponent who has a win over Paul Daley, how close do you see yourself breaking into top 15 territory?

Usman: Personally I believe [with] my abilities — and I believe in myself — that I’m already there. With this fight here, I believe this fight should put me right there in the top 15, and if not, I should get a top 15 or top 10 opponent next fight. You know, we can’t do this forever. When I came into this sport, I had a goal for myself and I kind of put myself in a timeline of how long I wanted it to take me to get to the top of the mountain, and so we’re kind of approaching that spot now and I feel like I’m right there. I’m getting comfortable and I’m ready for any type of opponent that they throw at me.

TAP: Do you like the pace that the UFC has set for your career growth, or would you prefer they step it up a little more?

Usman: Pace meaning regularity of fighting or more of the opponent? Because with regularity, of course we would love to fight a lot more often. I would love to fight a lot more often, but of course it’s the UFC and whenever they feel that they have an opening then they can put us in there because there’s so many fighters. With that, of course I’d like to fight a little more regularly.

As far as opponents, I feel like, yeah, they’re not trying to do me any favors or this and that. Whoever they have open that they feel that is a top opponent that I could face at that point, they put out there, and of course I’m going to say yes and we go out there and take care of business.

TAP: You were an outstanding collegiate wrestler, having amassed multiple All-American awards and a Division II national title. Sometimes we see fighters come from decorated wrestling or BJJ backgrounds struggle to effectively implement their strengths in MMA. What was the level of difficulty for you to transition from a collegiate style wrestling to a more MMA-centric style?

Usman: That’s a good point, because I try to talk to my mentors as much as I can about that. When you’re doing something like wrestling — wrestling is one of the toughest and hardest martial arts to learn — but it’s still a form of martial arts. It’s still controlled. You’re wrestling, so you’re in a controlled environment to where you know ‘all this guy can do to me is grab my leg, take me down, put me in this and that,’ so you know that. Of course you’re going to be nervous when you go out there, but that’s it.

MMA is completely different. You have no control of your opponent and what he’s going to do when he’s going to do it. That plays a big role, so when everyone comes in, we all feel like ‘Okay, you …

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