Kamaru Usman Names Preferred Matchups for UFC Return

👀🔥Kamaru Usman names ideal opponents for his return fight

"If I had to pick in order I would say Brady, Shavkat and Buckley. That what makes sense."

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Kamaru Usman recently listed potential opponents in order of preference for his next fight.

Usman would like to fight either Sean Brady, Shavkat Rakhmonov or Joaquin Buckley when he returns to action. Usman’s first preference would be Brady, who submitted Leon Edwards at UFC London last weekend. While Usman doubts Brady will be able to get past him, “The Nigerian Nightmare” believes the Philadelphia native’s title shot will be undeniable if he does.

“Honestly, what would make sense would be – If I had to pick the order, I would say Brady, Shavkat, Buckley,” Usman recently said on the “Pound4Pound” podcast. “That’s what makes sense. Because, winner of Brady and I, we fight for the title next. Because if you look at what Sean Brady just did, he just took out a former champion. And then you fight another former champion and if you’re able — he’s not gonna be — but if he’s able to get through me, it’s hard to deny him that. He should fight for the title.”

Brady has only lost to current champ Belal Muhammad in 2022 and has since mounted a three-fight winning streak. Meanwhile, Rakhmonov was expected to challenge Muhammad for the title at UFC 315 but couldn’t accept the fight due to an injury. The undefeated Kazakh has finished six of his seven UFC outings, going to the scorecards for the first time in his career against Ian Garry in his latest outing at UFC 310 this past December. And Buckley is riding a six-fight winning streak with four finishes and comes off a stoppage win over Colby Covington.

Meanwhile, Usman is on a three-fight slump which includes back-to-back title losses against Edwards followed by a majority decision loss against Khamzat Chimaev in 2023.