"Unfortunately, I lost the fight" - Kamaru Usman discusses using strategy akin to Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones and Conor McGregor against Leon Edwards
Kamaru Usman recently welcomed fellow all-time great welterweight Georges St-Pierre to his podcast with former UFC two-division champion Henry Cejudo. During the course of his appearance, 'GSP' touched on a number of topics, including his pre-fight rituals, to prepare his mind for his matchups.
This led to 'The Nigerian Nightmare' revealing that he engages in similar pre-fight rituals, and even did so against Leon Edwards in their rematch. Unfortunately, his methods proved ineffective against the Englishman, who emerged victorious with a majority decision.
"That is so surreal that you say that, because I've never heard you say that, but I'm like... and I didn't learn any of these things. I wasn't taught any of these things. I do almost similar."
"Unfortunately, I lost the fight, the Edwards, the second fight, because that fight I just had a lot of stress on me. But I was in the bathroom and I'm in the mirror, and I was walking back and forth, I'm looking at the mirror, and I put myself in this scenario and I'm talking to myself in the mirror," he added.
This visualization exercise of envisioning one's superiority over an opponent isn't just exclusive to Usman as St-Pierre revealed that Jon Jones and Conor McGregor also engage in this brand of mental preparation.
"You know who did that one time in an interview, and he did it loud, is Jon Jones, before he fought 'DC.' He told 'DC' in an interview, he said, 'I'm gonna go out there' and something like, 'I'm gonna go out there and put you down and beat you up, and there's nothing you can do, Daniel Cormier.' And I told myself, I said, he just did it, but he did it loud, you know what I mean? Some guys, like McGregor, does it loud too."
Check out Kamaru Usman and Georges St-Pierre's discussion about mental preparation (21:22 and 22:25):
Both Usman and St-Pierre carried themselves with supreme confidence during their tenure at the top of 170 pounds, so it is not surprising that they have achieved what they have.
Kamaru Usman was recently proclaimed the welterweight GOAT by Dana White
During a recent appearance on Kamaru Usman's Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru Usman & Henry podcast, Dana White hailed 'The Nigerian Nightmare' as the greatest welterweight of all time ahead of 'GSP.'
This raised several eyebrows in the MMA community. For as great as Usman was and still is, he trails St-Pierre in both welterweight title defenses and the length of his win streak.