Las Vegas, NV — Your The Ultimate Fighter 30 heavyweight winner is Mohammed Usman, and he did it in style at UFC Vegas 59.
Usman (8-2) knocked out Team Pena teammate Zac Pauga in the second round to secure the TUF trophy and UFC contract. The fight, Usman later told media outlets including Cageside Press, is “day one” to him.
“This is my first day on the job in the UFC,” Usman stated backstage at the UFC Apex on Saturday. “Now I can put the UFC stuff on and feel accomplished.”
Usman, brother of UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, went on to say that “I manifested this moment. Me and my coaches worked. We worked, we worked, we worked. And that’s the number one thing we worked on, we worked on putting him away. Because he knows that I have power, but he’s never really felt my power. He’s only felt me at training. Training, you’re not trying to knock nobody out in training, but when you get in that octagon, you’re trying to put somebody’s lights out, and that’s what I did.”
Despite the power advantage, many fans and pundits ahead of the fight had singled out Pauga as the better striker.
“Did they watch any of his fights?” Usman questioned. “At the end of the day, did they watch any of his fights? He doesn’t have any KOs. He had a TKO on The Ultimate Fighter show, but that’s it. I got KOs in fights that I fought. So I knew I had more power, I’ve trained with him, he knew I had more power. He knew exactly what he was coming in here for, and I did too. I was just prepared for everything he was going to throw at me. I just trusted myself, trusted my abilities, trusted my hands, and I made it happen.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 59 post-fight press conference with Mohammed Usman above.
