UFC News: Kamaru Usman claims he would send Conor McGregor into retirement if they fought
Conor McGregor recently spoke to The Mac Life wherein he revealed that he was more interested in fighting UFC Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman than Jorge Masvidal. Usman then sent out a tweet warning McGregor, telling him that his dream can soon turn into a nightmare.
The reigning champion was asked about potentially fighting The Notorious One by MMA Fighting and he was quick to shut it down, telling them that the fight is a big stylistic mismatch (H/T BJPenn.com):
“It is a [mismatch],” Usman told MMA Fighting of a fight with McGregor. “More power to him, anything is possible. A fight is a fight, anything can happen. But just being real, that’s a tremendous mismatch. I think I would hurt him really, really bad.
He referred to the Khabib Nurmagomedov fight wherein McGregor was dominated, sending him into a 15-month hiatus. Usman further claimed that if he fights McGregor, the Irishman will never return to MMA:
“I mean we saw what Khabib [Nurmagomedov] did to him,” Usman added. “He had to take some time off after the Khabib fight,” Usman said. “Now imagine him fighting me. I don’t think we ever see him back in the sport.”
He concluded by saying that the fight doesn't make much sense right now and admitting that he's open to the idea of fighting McGregor if he makes a case for himself by beating the top contenders in the 170-pound division.
“Conor doesn’t even really make sense,” Usman said. “Sure, if he comes in the division and beats someone pretty high up there and really makes the case for himself that he can really handle himself in the division, then absolutely I would entertain that fight.”
Usman's next opponent is yet to be determined. If Leon Edwards defeats Tyron Woodley in their upcoming fight this March, then the Brit can make a clear-cut case for a title shot. Jorge Masvidal should ideally be the #1 contender but he has admitted to wanting to face Conor McGregor before that. With that said, Gamebred's manager admitted that he wants to end 2020 as the UFC Welterweight Champion.