UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman is switching things up ahead of his next title defense.
Usman is set to put his welterweight title on the line against Gilbert Burns in the main event of UFC 251. The story going into this bout is an interesting one as Usman and Burns were training partners at Sanford MMA. The keyword is “were” as Usman has decided to switch camps ahead of his July 11 showdown with “Durinho.”
Kamaru Usman Changes Camps Ahead Of UFC 251
For the first time in his pro MMA career, Usman will hold a camp outside of Florida. He’s holding his camp for UFC 251 in Denver. He’ll be training under Trevor Wittman. “The Nigerian Nightmare” explained his decision to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto.
“Florida was the base for a long time, but you grow from there,” Usman told ESPN. “We always had a ton of guys, some of the best training partners out there and some great coaches.
“But I wanted a little more specific attention at this point in my career — someone to be able to say, ‘You’re going to come in at this time and work on this particular skill.’ It’s very tough to do that when there are 40 to 50 guys in the room with you who also need to get attention.”
Usman is hoping for a second successful UFC title defense. He’s coming off a fifth-round TKO victory over Colby Covington back in Dec. 2019. As for Burns, he’s riding a six-fight winning streak and recently earned a one-sided unanimous decision win over former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley.
UFC 251 will feature two more title bouts as well. Alex Volkanovski will put his featherweight gold on the line against Max Holloway in a rematch. Petr Yan vs. Jose Aldo is also set and they’ll be competing for the vacant UFC bantamweight championship.
