‘I didn’t mind being up at 185’

Former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman may have found a new home in the middleweight division.

Usman, a dominant force at 170 pounds, recently stepped up to the middleweight division as a replacement for the injured Paulo Costa in the co-main event of UFC 294. Despite taking the fight against Khamzat Chimaev (13-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) on short notice, Usman (20-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC) put up a strong fight and narrowly lost via majority decision.

Reflecting on his middleweight debut, Usman shared his openness to stay in the 185-pound division for future fights.

“The plans, I don’t know. It’s a bit hazy,” Usman said on his YouTube channel. “I didn’t mind competing at 185. Sure, the size difference was noticeable initially, but I’m a fighter of championship caliber. From now on, I want to go for five-round fights instead of three. 185 looked good on me, so who knows? We’ll keep you updated.”

Notably, the fight against Chimaev wasn’t just Usman’s first outing in the middleweight division, but it also marked his first three-round fight in over five years.

Usman believes that under better circumstances and with an additional 10 minutes of fighting, the outcome against Chimaev could have been different.

“I shouldn’t have given up those takedowns,” Usman acknowledged. “He took me down and I couldn’t defend properly. My knee was bothering me, and I was like, ‘Damn, my knee.'”

“He was strong, but I’ve faced strong opponents before. I should have trusted in my own strength more. Mentally, I gave him too much credit and spent the fight trying to catch up. Unfortunately, I didn’t have those extra two rounds to make up for it. By the third round, I was feeling good, but then the fight was over.”

Story originally appeared on MMA Junkie