In November 2016, a few days before his UFC Fight Night 100 meeting with then-undefeated Warlley Alves in Sao Paulo, Kamaru Usman made a bold claim to MMAjunkie . “I want to make it a point in my career to kind of just stomp out all those ground guys and let them know that I am the best grappler in the division,” Usman said at the time. “A win here, and I want Demian Maia .” That was certainly an interesting one at the time. Usman, after all, was only three fights into his UFC career – including the one at The Ultimate Fighter 21 Finale that crowned him the season winner over Hayder Hassan. Seasoned vet Maia, on the other hand, had just quickly beaten Carlos Condit to add a sixth win to his streak and further strength his case for a welterweight title shot. So when Usman (12-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) went on to dominate Alves and explain why he believed he could not only beat Maia (25-8 MMA, 19-8 UFC), but finish him quickly, he knew what people would think
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