Nobody wants to fight Kamaru Usman.

“The Nigerian Nightmare” has been running through helpless opponents in the octagon like his namesake Christian Okoye ran through helpless defenders on the gridiron.

While some opponents are avoided for their dangerous striking, Usman’s greatest asset is his ability to get on top of his opposition and stay there. He has had control of his opponent for 50:40 of 1:24:07 over the course of his UFC fights, for a staggering 60.2% of the time. In two of his bouts that lasted 15 minutes and went to a decision, he had control for over 85% of the fight.

The biggest issue that the UFC has had is finding ranked opponents to fight the now 7th-ranked Usman, who still has yet to defeat a ranked opponent as a result of their refusal to fight him.

Finally, the UFC had found a ranked opponent to fight Usman in the main event of Fight Night in Santiago, Chile when they announced that he would be facing 10th-ranked Santiago Ponzinnibbio, who hails from nearby Argentina.

However, that matchup was short lived as Ponzinnibbio was forced to withdraw from the fight less than a month after it was announced due to a hand injury that required surgery.

Usman was vocal about his position, which was that he would either fight a ranked opponent or he wouldn’t fight on the card.

Less than a week after it was announced that Ponzinnibbio could no longer compete, the UFC was able to lure a big fish to replace him when two-time title challenger, 5th-ranked Demian Maia, agreed to accept the fight.

“I know it was definitely rough for the UFC to find a guy that was willing to take this fight. You couldn’t find guys that were willing to take this fight with three or four months notice and to find one with a month’s notice was probably even tougher,” Usman told The TSN MMA Show.  “I’m just thankful to the UFC, thankful to Demian Maia himself for giving me the opportunity.”

Usman has publicly named ranked fighters like Colby Covington and Neil Magny for turning down fights with him and the issue of ranked fighters avoiding lower ranked opponents who are on the rise came to a head recently when the UFC released budding prospect Yair Rodriguez for refusing to fight both Ricardo Lamas and Zabit Magomedsharipov, who is the promotion’s most highly touted prospect in recent memory.

Rodriguez’s release is a step in the right direction according to Usman.

“It shows that the organization now is stepping up and not willing to just let these fighters try to protect their rankings or go around the tougher fights because back in the day it wasn’t like that, you fought whoever the UFC told you that you were going to fight next,” said Usman. “It wasn’t ‘oh, I’m ranked number five or I’m ranked number seven, I’m not going to fight anyone that’s ranked outside of the top-15’ or anything like that. So, it does feel good that the organization is getting back to making those tough calls, like you know what, if you’re not going to fight who we need you to fight, then you can’t fight here.”

Usman feels that those who refuse fights with opponents in the interest of their ranking should lose their spots in the official rankings, which are determined by a panel of journalists who cover the sport.

“The goal of this, I would like to think for everybody is to become champion. Some guys just like being a fighter and they live in that world, but I got into this to be champion. So each fight that I take, I want that to be a fight that’s going to elevate me towards that and so if I’m performing and I’m going out there and getting those wins, I should be fighting a guy that’s a step up,” said Usman. “If the UFC’s asking the number 14 or 15 guy to fight Zabit and those guys are like ‘no, I’m number 15 in the world, I don’t want to fight him’, then guess what? You’re losing your spot, because this is a guy that’s continuously winning, he’s on a roll, obviously they’re showing the UFC something to why they want him to fight a ranked opponent. If you’re not willing to give them a chance to move up, then hey, you should lose that spot.”

Now that Usman finally has his opportunity to not only fight a ranked opponent, but one that is ranked above him, he is relishing the opportunity.

Maia is coming off back-to-back losses against Tyron Woodley and Covington, two fighters with similar skill sets to Usman, a high-level wrestling base with superior striking to Maia. Woodley and Covington were Division I All-American wrestlers, while Usman was a Division II national champion.

Usman has felt like he has had the blueprint for defeating Maia for some time and will finally get the chance to prove it.

“I’ve thought I’ve had it for two years because I called out Demian Maia two years ago. I called him out two years ago when he was sitting next to me before losing any of these fights, I think he was staring down a title shot,” said Usman. “I’ve thought that I could beat him for years now and now I get the opportunity to show it.”

Usman was recently involved in the UFC’s 25th Anniversary press conference that took place in Brooklyn in April and although he was onstage with his prospective opponent Ponzinnibbio, Usman instead targeted Covington, who will be competing for the interim welterweight championship at UFC 225 in June.

“He’s just the punk of the sport. It’s funny man, I feel like that’s somebody that it’s destined for me to fight or compete against. It goes back years and years before I really even knew him, when I saw some certain things unfold to where I started putting two and two together that we have more in common than he realizes and it’s just destiny,” said Usman.

“This is the one guy in the division that it doesn’t matter where I’m at, when I’m around him, when I see him, my heart rate goes up. I can’t explain it, my heart rate just goes up,” Usman said when discussing Covington, who like Usman, also trains in South Florida. “It’s like when you’re in elementary school and you know you’re going to get into a fight at the end school and you’re scared, you’re upset or your heart’s going to beat fast, you feel something. It’s just something about this guy that when I’m around him, I feel that. I can’t control it. All that banter wasn’t planned, I was there and I felt it and it just came out.”

Where April was the month where the lightweight division took centre stage with several main events featuring fighters from that division, May and June will shine a spotlight on welterweight. 

Next weekend in Liverpool features the highly anticipated fight between homegrown talent Darren Till against top contender Stephen Thompson. The winner of that fight is already in Usman’s crosshairs and although he feels that the victor will be his next opponent, he’s leaving it in the hands of the powers that be.

“Let’s be honest, it looks that way, because if you look at the guys that are above us or around us, no other fight really makes sense. Till is on a roll, he hasn’t lost in a while and he’s looked good and looked impressive. I haven’t lost at all in the UFC, I’ve won every round, dominated every minute of every round,” said Usman.

“You’ve got someone like Wonderboy (Stephen Thompson), who continues to beat up everybody that’s not Tyron Woodley. You’ve got RDA (Rafael dos Anjos) who’s on a nice little streak and you’ve got Colby who’s on a streak as well. It’s just us six that’s sitting in those positions and so, let’s be honest, it looks like that might be the next fight. You never know, the UFC knows the direction they want to go with their company and what they want to do, so I’ve learned to kind of shut down expectations in that department”

Demian Maia will be Usman’s toughest challenge to date, but if Usman wins in the same dominant fashion as he has over previous opponents, getting another high-ranked opponent to sign a bout agreement may be an even bigger challenge.

UFC Fight Night Chile featuring Demian Maia vs. Kamaru Usman in the main event airs at 10:00 pm ET / 7:00 pm PT on TSN2