Kamaru Usman Gives Demian Maia Praise, Wants A Title Fight Next

Kamaru Usman spoke following his win over Demian Maia at UFC Fight Night 129 on Saturday night. Highlights are below courtesy of MMAjunkie:

On who’s next for him after the win: “Upward and onward. It’s either (reigning welterweight champion Tyron Woodley) or the winner of (Darren Till) and (Stephen Thompson). That’s it.”

On which fight he’d prefer: “I think I should fight for the belt next. I just dominated (Maia) better than Tyron Woodley (did). Tyron ran from him the whole fight. Tyron did, what? Fewest strikes in a championship fight, ever? And I just went out and I dominated the guy from start to finish.”

On the possibility of fighting Woodley: “Let’s be honest: Nobody in my division wants to fight me because I’m the hardest fight for anybody. This fight right here, this was a fight that (UFC President) Dana White wanted. He wanted to test me against the most dangerous guy in the division. That was the most dangerous guy in the division. The champion is easier for me to fight. And you’ve got these other two bums that are fighting for an interim title (Rafael dos Anjos and Colby Covington, who meet June 9 at UFC 225). Those guys are bums. Those guys are easier for me to fight. This was the hardest fight in the division. And Dana wanted the fight; he got the fight. Now it’s time to fight somebody.”

On his performance in the fight with Maia: “I felt like, with [Santiago Ponzinibbio], I had a lot more things I was working on that I could’ve really implemented. felt like, with that opponent, I had a lot more things I was working on that I could’ve really implemented. But Demian coming in, that threw a wrench in the game. I had to switch up. It’s tough to play that game with Demian — the best submission expert we’ve ever seen in mixed martial arts. I went in there and still got the job done.”

On Maia’s performance: “I really had no hands to grab him. He’s a very tricky guy, so, when you have handicaps, there’s no point in even playing with it and giving him a chance to do something. He’s very dangerous. Nothing but respect for Demian…I was pretty confident but, man – I kid you not – for a jiu-jitsu guy, he’s a very dangerous, very good grappler. A couple of times he had those good grips around me. I was just like, ‘Not today. Not today.’”