Kamaru Usman in action against Colby Covington (Getty)
Kamaru Usman walked into the UFC 261 weigh ins with fellow African and UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.
Usman is all set to face Jorge Masvidal in the main event of UFC 261. He will be defending his welterweight title against the experienced Gamebred.
The pair already met at UFC 251, when Masvidal took the fight on very short notice (6 days), since Usman’s original opponent Gilbert Burns had pulled out due to contracting the coronavirus.
Without any training camp and, with a harsh and rigorous weight-cut, Masvidal fought the champ, ultimately losing via. unanimous decision.
Usman will be wary of the fact that Masvidal is coming off a full training camp this time, and hence he might be bringing his wrestling skills to the fore against a ‘strike-heavy’ Masvidal.
The weigh-ins for the UFC 261, just concluded and Usman weighed in at 169.5lbs. And what’s more, he also had the dangerous Francis Ngannou with him at the weigh-ins.
The heavyweight champ attired in a black compression t-shirt going along with black shorts and red flip-flops was there to accompany his fellow African ‘brother’.
It is to be noted that, Ngannou will also be by Usman’s corner during his championship bout against Jorge Masvidal.
Usman’s brother Mohammed plies his trade in the heavyweight division of the PFL (Professional Fighters League). He usually accompanies Usman during his weigh ins and is always by his corner during his fights.
However, Mohammed himself has a fight on the 7th of May, and hence will be required to quarantine, well before the fight, due to the strict quarantine rules in the PFL.
Usman confirmed the same to Marc Raimondi of ESPN recently:
“Unfortunately, my brother is not able to go to this fight, which is just silly to me that the PFL is doing a 17-day quarantine. Which is just ridiculous to me. He doesn’t fight till May 7 and they are having him go quarantine next week, so he can’t corner me.”
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