Kamaru Usman: BMF title ‘hypothetical’ that UFC made up ‘because of me’

Kamaru Usman believes when the story of the BMF title is being told, his name should be part of the narrative.

Usman discussed the BMF title on his podcast with Henry Cejudo, and asked fans why they hold the championship — currently held by Max Holloway — in such high regard.

“Guys, why are we talking about it like this is a real title? It’s not,” Usman said on Pound 4 Pound. “This was a hypothetical that was made up because of me. It was made up because of me.”

The former welterweight champion says that when the BMF belt was introduced to the world at UFC 244, the original fight that the UFC brought to the table was Usman vs. Colby Covington. But the fight didn’t come together — which led to UFC CEO Dana White creating the BMF title that Nate Diaz called for in a callout for Jorge Masvidal, who had recently knocked out Ben Askren in record time at UFC 239 in July 2019.

When asked to elaborate by Cejudo, Usman says history would be different if he had defended his welterweight title against Covington that night in November 2019.

“Covington [and I] were supposed to fight at MSG, New York,” Usman explained. “The fight didn’t happen. They needed a fight to headline that card, they needed something with some steam. This is MSG, you can’t just put any fight card at MSG. You’ve got to come correct when you go to MSG. ...

“What’s the hottest ticket out there? Jorge ‘Gamebred’ Masvidal — the hottest thing smoking. Then, of course, you have Nate Diaz with his mystique that he always carries. ... Nate Diaz had already called out Masvidal after his previous fight. ... Dana jumps on, how do we promote this fight? Let’s create this, all right. It’s called the baddest mother f’er belt. C’mon, are you serious?”

Masvidal would win the fight via doctor’s stoppage TKO, and was awarded the BMF title by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.