KAMARU USMAN was moved to tears after winning his do-or-die octagon return.
The former welterweight and pound-for-pound king returned to the cage for the first time in 20 months early this morning in the main event of UFC Atlanta against Jaoquin Buckley.
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There were serious concerns that Usman’s time at the top was a thing of the past following three straight losses to Leon Edwards and Khamzat Chimaev.
But the 38-year-old rolled back the years with a suffocating display across five rounds to earn a unanimous decision victory courtesy of 49–46, 49–46, 48–47 scorecards.
An emotional Usman teared up in his post-fight interview as he said: “It’s been a while. I needed to get that monkey off my back.
“I know I’m still able to do this at the highest level.
“Sometimes when you’re going up against a young, hungry guy like that, very talented, very aggressive, you’ve got to pull out the skills and use your experience.
“And that’s what I did tonight.”
Usman insists victory over the surging Buckley has shown his detractors he’s still very much at the top of his game.
He said: “I know it’s a running joke, everybody wants to get on the internet and talk s***, ‘Oh, his knees, his knees.’
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“Well, shut the f*** up, I can still do what I do.
“I could do that to anybody [in the welterweight division], any one of them.
“But like I said, I needed to get that monkey off my back.
“Early on in my career as I was rolling, once I had that monkey off my back and I knew I was rolling, I was able to open up.
“And you guys saw those spectacular knockouts. I still got them in there.”
Following his dominant return to the win column, Usman has set his sights on becoming a two-time king of the welterweights.
He roared: “I have been, and always will be, the f**king boogeyman.”
