Kamaru Usman has expressed his frustration after being woken up in the early hours of the morning for a drug test just over a week out from his UFC title fight.
Usman is scheduled to make the sixth defence of his welterweight title at UFC 278 on August 20 when he rematches top contender Leon Edwards. The pair first met in the early stages of their UFC careers, when Usman outpointed the Brit in late 2015. Usman has since won 13 consecutive fights during his rise to pound-for-pound No.1 whilst Edwards is unbeaten since his loss to the champion.
As part of the UFC’s anti-doping policy, fighters are subject to random drug tests 365 days a year. Whereabouts information is submitted to the United States Anti-Doping Agency [USADA] by UFC fighters, which allows the agency to locate them for out-of-competition testing.
Usman said he was unnecessarily woken by USADA at 5am for a random drug test, despite giving his whereabouts to the agency. “Dear USADA, there’s a reason you make us fill out our whereabouts. So you know where we are at all times. Disrupting our sleep at 5am is just plain stupid. Next time I’ll make you guys follow me around all day,” he wrote.
Despite the champion being unbeaten in almost a decade, Edwards is unfazed by the enormity of his fight against Usman. The Brit sees the fight as a chance to get his revenge with the world title merely being a bonus. Edwards thinks Usman will be in for a shock when they meet as several of the champion’s former opponents have fought at lighter weight classes before in the UFC.
“I’m not overcomplicating it to make it bigger than what it is, obviously it’s for the world title but this is my fourth main event for the UFC. I’m going in there to approach it as that, getting my revenge and also win the belt which is the bonus. That’s how I’m approaching it,” he said.
“I think his wrestling and what he does is pretty basic, it’s nothing like Khabib [Nurmagomedov] or anything like that. He trains on being tough and the stronger opponent in the cage, but his last three opponents are all built like lightweights. I’m going to be one of the biggest guys he’s fought, a rangy southpaw that has great grappling.” (Mirror)