Kamaru Usman heard the same USA chants that filled the T-Mobile Arena during his victory over Colby Covington at UFC 245 as everyone else, but he heard them in a different context than perhaps most others did.
Colby Covington has christened himself as “America’s Champ,” all while wearing Make America Great Again caps and displaying Trump merchandise every chance he got and everywhere he went. So when chants of “USA” rained down during the main event between welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington, naturally, the inference would be that the chants were for Covington, right? Nuh-uh, says The Nigerian Nightmare.
“They was chanting USA for me,” Usman contended at the UFC 245 post-fight press conference. “Let’s be honest, I’ve said it time and time again, I’m more American than him. I am what it means to be an American. I’m an immigrant that comes here, worked my ass off tirelessly to get to the top, and I’m still prevailing. And so that’s what it means to be an American. It’s not necessarily, oh, just because you’re born here and you feel privileged is what it means to be an American.
“No. I told you, none of these guys work harder than me,” Usman continued. “That’s what it means to be an American. I work my ass off, and I’m gonna continue to work my ass off and, obviously, with good integrity. I don’t have to walk around like a punk and say certain things and abuse a whole country and abuse the whole world and talk about people and religions and things like that. I don’t have to. I’m gonna walk with integrity.
“Because at the end of the day, I want everyone that’s watching me, every eye that’s on me to look at me and say, “You know what? That’s what we want to be. That’s the example that we like. And so I’m more American than him. So when they were chanting ‘USA,’ you damn sure better believe that was because of me.”
Kamaru Usman would then continue to embrace his patriotism by posting a tweet Sunday afternoon stating that he was on his way to the White House.
“We all bleed the same. This was also for the ‘UNITED’ States of America!! I’m taking this belt to the whites (sic) house @danawhite @realDonaldTrump,” Usman tweeted.
Whether or not Usman is trolling Colby Covington and whether the UFC or Donald Trump will act on this request is for you to determine until we see the reigning champ step foot in the White House.
What’s your take on Kamaru Usman’s claim that the “USA” chants during the UFC 245 main event were for him?
