PITTSBURGH, PA - SEPTEMBER 16: (L-R) Kamaru Usman of Nigeria punches Sergio Moraes of Brasil in their welterweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event inside the PPG Paints Arena on September 16, 2017 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
UFC Pittsburgh: Kamaru Usman sends a message to welterweight division
Continuing the UFC Pittsburgh main card, Kamaru Usman put on a superb performance against Moraes, pushing his win streak to ten in a row.
Kamaru Usman was on a roll, and tonight was another opportunity to make his win streak ten in a row and solidify himself as a threat in the UFC welterweight division.
After finishing every fight in his career outside of the UFC, Usman has finished a fight only once in UFC competition, a submission over Hayder Hassan. Usman didn’t just need a win tonight, he needed a statement to secure a high-profile fight in the future.
Sergio Moraes owned a might fine unbeaten streak of his own as he went into Saturday’s bout. Moraes hasn’t lost a bout in seven fights, a draw against Luan Chagas in the midst of it, and tonight he could really prove to the welterweight division that he is for real. With two straight rather forgettable decision wins over Zak Ottow and Davi Ramos, Moraes needed an impressive win badly to sneak closer to the top 15.
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In the first round, Usman put Moraes on the cage and dropped him right away. The knockdown did little damage to Moraes, who once he rose to his feet, just wildly swung for the fences to salvage some momentum from the early knockdown.
Usman, who sensed that Moraes was letting down his guard, put Moraes’s back on the cage and found his chin with a right cross that sent Moraes somersaulting to the ground and sprawled unconscious, out for good.
With the knockout finish, Usman scored his first T/KO victory in the UFC and his first since 2014. Usman also pushed his win streak to ten straight, as well as continuing his undefeated streak in the UFC at 5-0.
Post-fight, Usman told everybody in the welterweight division, “anybody who says they want this fight, they don’t. I’m a problem.” Usman had a name in mind, however, calling out former lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos. With the message, he’s now sent to the welterweight division, both physically and verbally, it’s extremely difficult to deny him at the bare minimum a top ten fight.
