Kamaru Usman fick utstå en hel del kritik efter vinsten mot Emil Meek förra året. Det var i intervjun efter matchen som Usman deklarerade att han bara var ”30 %” mot norrmannen – något som inte alls togs emot väl av varken MMA-communityn eller dess president Dana White.
“Listen, I fought this fight sitting at about 30 percent,” sade Usman då. “Everybody knows what I’m capable of, that was 30 percent right there, and I still dominated a tough so-called Viking. Dominated him, and I was at 30 percent.”
Läs mer: Kamaru Usman till MMAnytt: ”UFC skyddar Darren Till från mig”
”Dana tog det fel”
Nu förklarar Usman att han i uttalandet inte syftade till 30 % av sina färdigheter, utan snarare 30% av hans hälsa. Och han beskyller UFC-presidenten för all den negativa feedback han fått utstå sedan matchen mot Meek på grund av utspelet.
“I meant I literally was maybe 30-percent of my abilities, which is what I stated, but of course, when you have a president that is so powerful like Dana White and he goes out in the media and says what he says, everyone just jumps on it.”
”I swear if Dana says that, ‘You know what? An earthquake is going to happen tomorrow,’ everyone’s going to jump on it, ‘Oh, an earthquake’s going to happen tomorrow.’ That’s just the way that these UFC fans are,” säger Usman till MMA Fighting.
“So once Dana said that, it was just the backlash of it and whatnot, but what I meant to say was I was at 30-percent health. Dana took it the wrong way, so fans took it the wrong way.”
Lovar mer den här gången
Usmans nästa match blir mot Santiago Ponzinibbio i huvudmatchen på UFC Chile som drar igång den 19 maj i Santiago. ”The Nigerian Nightmare” ångrar inte sina uttalanden efter matchen mot Meek, men lovar ändå att ge mer än 30 % den här gången.
“I am what I am, I don’t regret anything,” säger Usman. “There’s a blessing in everything that happens to us. Yes, of course, it’s getting kind of old, because every time you look at one of my pictures, comments or anything like that, all fans seem to want to talk about is 30 percent, 30 percent, 30 percent.”
”So after that Dana said, ‘Will you go 60 percent next time?’ He can expect me to go way more than 30 percent this next fight, that’s for sure.”
Relaterat: Se Santiago Ponzinibbios och Kamaru Usmans första staredown inför UFC: Chile
