Former UFC champion Tyron Woodley has laughed off the idea that Kamaru Usman is the greatest welterweight of all time.
As we know, Kamaru Usman has achieved some great things throughout the course of his mixed martial arts career. Within the lineage of great welterweight fighters, he is certainly on the Mount Rushmore – with some, including UFC boss Dana White, even believing that he is the best to ever do it at 170 pounds.
Of course, there’s an elephant in the room when it comes to that debate, and the elephant is called Georges St-Pierre. GSP’s resume speaks for itself and while Kamaru Usman was unbelievably impressive during his reign at the top of the mountain, the popular opinion is that St-Pierre stands above him in the pecking order.
Tyron Woodley, who lost his belt to Kamaru Usman, had a few things to say on this subject.
Woodley slams Usman being named welterweight GOAT
“Kamaru is not the greatest welterweight of all time,” Woodley told MMA Fighting. “I’m the realest. I had the realest route, I had the realest reign. I was the person who dealt with the most stuff behind the scenes and still managed to win, that I don’t even speak about. I fought all the top contenders that were not big trash talkers.
“Nobody wanted to say a bad word about Demian Maia, Robbie Lawler or ‘Wonderboy’ (Thompson). I fought all the up-and-coming guys. Even Usman and Colby (Covington) and (Darren) Till, those are all up-and-coming guys. He’s not the greatest welterweight of all time. What he is, he is the one that kissed the most ass.”
“He’s a good fighter,” Woodley said. “He stayed disciplined, but that’s what he is. He’s not the greatest welterweight. How can you even say that? Once you say he’s the greatest and you’re trying to say he’s better than Georges, nobody’s even listening to you after that.”
Quotes via MMA Junkie
Usman is currently hunting down a second reign as welterweight champion with some rumors suggesting that he could be next in line to challenge Islam Makhachev for the belt.