Kamaru Usman relishes idea of legendary UFC duel against Dustin Poirier: "That would be a fantastic one"
Kamaru Usman would seemingly not mind welcoming a former interim UFC lightweight champion, Dustin Poirier to 170 pounds if he does pursue that move up.
Poirier lost his chance to claim lightweight gold against Islam Makhachev in the UFC 302 main event and has even teased hanging up the gloves. It does not seem like a completely assured thing but there have been some loose rumblings over the years of how 'The Diamond' might fair against welterweight competition.
On the Pound 4 Pound podcast which he co-hosts alongside Henry Cejudo, Usman touched on some subjects falling out of the aforementioned June 1 pay-per-view event.
As far as what could be next in Dustin Poirier's MMA endeavors, Usman said:
"But he's got fights. The [Alexander] Volkanovski fight, that's a fun fight. I'm not in any way throwing my hat in but he wants to go up, hey, that's a fun fight. I'm not saying I'm welcoming the fight. Don't do it, I'm not saying that. But I always put my mind there. If I was to ever compete against a guy like Dustin Poirier, that would be a fantastic one."
Usman added:
"Because it's a guy that I could really respect through and through the process. Really through the process and go out. It's like you and your main training partner and you just like yeah we're gonna beat each other up. We're gonna push each other to the brink. You know, that would be a fun fight but I'm not throwing my hat in."
Check out Kamaru Usman discussing a potential Dustin Poirier prizefight below:
Kamaru Usman and his UFC welterweight legacy
If Poirier did in fact decide to go up to welterweight, Usman would certainly be a stiff test as he has one of the deepest resumes in divisional history.
Some even think that Kamaru Usman is outright the best UFC welterweight champion of all-time with names like Georges St. Pierre and Matt Hughes popping up in that conversation as well.
The Nigerian native captured the gold against Tyron Woodley at UFC 235 in March 2019 and went on to notch five championship defenses overall. His reign was bookended by wins over Colby Covington by fifth-round TKO and unanimous decision at UFC 245 and UFC 268, respectively.
Kamaru Usman also had a pair of title defenses against Jorge Masvidal which surrounded a successful defense against Gilbert Burns. He finished Burns and Masvidal in the second outing through his massive 2021 campaign. Usman went on to lose the belt to Leon Edwards by fifth-round TKO at UFC 278 and also lost the rematch by majority decision at UFC 286.