Kamaru Usman admits a huge weight has been lifted off his shoulders after his title loss to Leon Edwards at UFC 278.
Usman, 35, was on his way to making the sixth defence of his welterweight belt against Edwards in their rematch last weekend, but with less than a minute left Edwards brutally knocked him out with a Hail Mary head kick. It marked the first time Usman had been knocked out in his professional career and ended his nine-year unbeaten run.
UFC boss Dana White has since revealed Usman is in good spirits despite the loss and feels a lot of pressure has been taken off of him. “We talked, he’s in great spirits,” White said of Usman. “Obviously, he wants the rematch bad but he said, ‘I can’t tell you the weight that’s been lifted off me.’ You know, there’s a lot of pressure that goes along with the run that he was on, tying and breaking Anderson [Silva’s] record, all that stuff, there’s a lot of pressure. He’s looking forward to the rematch."
