Nigerian American Kamaru Usman has defended his UFC welterweight title at UFC 261 after defeating Jorge Masvidal for a second time on Sunday.
The fight was held at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Florida, in front of a crowd of 15,269 and was the first UFC event with a capacity crowd since the COVID-19 pandemic.
One minute, two seconds of round two was all it took Kamaru Usman to knock out Jorge Masvidal and take his claim as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
Following their first fight at UFC 251 last July which ended in a unanimous win for Usman, Masvidal claimed his loss was down to taking the fight on short notice after stepping in as a late replacement for Gilbert Burns.
Burns was Usman’s original opponent but was pulled from the card after testing positive for COVID-19.
Usman’s win improved his record to 19-1 and extended his unbeaten run to 18 fights, including 14 straight victories in the UFC.
“I told everybody, I’m still getting better. The sky’s the limit for me as long as I’m doing this,” he said.
“I know with my fundamentals, I am the pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet right now.”
The Nigeria Nightmare is also set to smile to the bank with an astonishing $1.5m while Masvidal will earn as much as $900,000 as a result of the crowd at the venue and a high Pay Per View sale.
Usman has a guaranteed $750,000 for the fight appearance and another $60,000 promotional bonus. He earned himself an extra $50,000 as his bout was selected as one of the two Performances of The Night as well as that of teammate, Rose Namajunas.
His earnings from the PPV revenue is set to take his total accumulated earnings to $1.5m.
Masvidal was classy in defeat as he reacted to the first knockout loss of his 50-fight MMA career.
“First time in my career, and it’s in front of all my people, my family and my friends, so it hurts,” he said.
“I’ve never been knocked out in 50 pro fights. Usman showed me something that he didn’t show in the first fight. I didn’t feel his power, and that’s what happens when you get overconfident. I thought we were going to wrestle more.
“All the props to him in the world. He caught me by surprise. He’s got my number. There’s nothing I can say. He won this fair and square. God bless him.”
However, Fans have taken to Twitter to mock Jorge Masvidal over his knockout defeat to Kamaru Usman.
One fan Tweeted saying: ‘Masvidal went from laughing to dreaming very fast.’
While another added: ‘Masvidal was laughing at the start of this video. LMAO. Kamaru Usman sucked all the joy out of him in second’.