MMA
Dana White says Kamaru Usman could eventually go down as UFC's greatest of all time
UFC President Dana White believes Kamaru Usman is now the company's greatest ever welterweight, following his emphatic victory over Gilbert Burns at UFC 258 on Saturday.
"The Nigerian Nightmare" weathered a tough first round in his latest defence of the UFC Welterweight Championship before dominating his challenger in the second and eventually finishing him off in the third.
The win puts Usman ahead of the great Georges St-Pierre with 13 consecutive welterweight victories, trumping GSP's previous streak of 12.
And White thinks the champ has a strong chance of finishing his career with a pound-for-pound legacy as strong as his divisional one.
"He broke his (St-Pierre's) record tonight," said White of Usman at the post-fight press conference. "If you look at what he just did he broke his record tonight for consecutive wins, and if this guy keeps rolling, if Usman can keep doing what he’s doing, he’s going to go down as the greatest welterweight ever. Fact.
"Just look at who he’s fought and who he has to fight here in the future, it’s undeniable that this guy will go down as the best welterweight. The question is, where will he go down in the history of the sport?"
Usman will certainly be in that conversation if he continues his current form against even more formidable challengers. In the overall 'greatest of all time' debate, his competition includes GSP himself, who returned from a long absence to dethrone middleweight champion Michael Bisping; Khabib Nurmagomedov who recently retired as a 29-0 undefeated lightweight ruler; and of course legends such as Jon 'Bones' Jones and Anderson Silva.
The champ's finish of Burns certainly drummed up excitement amongst the MMA community on social media app Twitter, with several big names reacting to the main event.
