Kamaru Usman has responded to Nate Diaz’s latest tweet about how the UFC is matchmaking him.
“The Nigerian Nightmare” Kamaru Usman has yet to meet his peer inside the Octagon, going unbeaten in the UFC and setting the longest winning streak in the history of the welterweight division. After nearly cleaning out the division, Usman has started to “lap” the field, meaning he has begun the process of defeating the same opponents twice due to a lack of fresh matchups.
After effectively lapping Jorge Masvidal at UFC 261 with a second-round knockout, UFC President Dana White has selected another past opponent of Usman to be the next title challenger, Colby “Chaos” Covington.
At UFC 245 in 2019, Usman defeated Covington by TKO, which is one of the primary reasons Usman has expressed disinterest in having that fight again. Tuesday, Nate Diaz posted a tweet that seemed to be in accord with Usman’s logic on the subject.
“Who dis guy fighting next? Someone he already koed,” Diaz posted with a face-palm emoji.
Taken at face value, the tweet is merely criticizing the UFC’s matchmaking decision to book Usman against Covington again after Usman already knocked him out. However, if you choose to look deeper and read between the lines, it’s possible to interpret Diaz’s tweet as suggesting that Usman fight him, a new foe, instead of rematching Covington.
Apparently, this is how Usman received Diaz’s tweet, which prompted the champion to offer the following reply:
“I see you 209. If you really want this 187 then call your boy hunter.”
To decode this tweet, “209” of course refers to the area code Diaz’s hometown of Stockton, California. “187” is a slang term for homicide. And Hunter Campbell is a UFC executive. So the tweet translates to, “I see you, Nate Diaz. If you really want to get murdered, call the UFC to make it happen.”
It’s hard to imagine this idea gaining any traction whatsoever for multiple reasons. Firstly, and perhaps most notably, Diaz has lost two consecutive fights and is currently unranked. Second, as Diaz’s tweet alludes to, the UFC has already committed to Colby Covington receiving the next title shot. And third, if Covington were to be passed over for someone else, it would likely be Leon Edwards instead of the man Edwards literally just defeated less than two weeks ago.
That being said, as long as the UFC has not officially announced Usman’s next opponent, then technically anything is possible.
What are your thoughts on Kamaru Usman’s reaction to Nate Diaz’s tweet?
