It’s the comeback season of one Kamaru Usman.

The former UFC Welterweight Champion has seen better days in his career; He went from an undefeated UFC record and five title defenses to a title loss by knockout and then losing twice more.

Even so, Usman isn’t in that bad of a situation, as he’s ranked No. 2 in the heavyweight rankings and is arguably No. 2 when it comes to the greatest heavyweight conversation of all time behind Georges St-Pierre. However, a title shot could be the next step for Usman following the heavyweight bout between Belal Muhammad and Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310, where champion Muhammad withdrew due to a toe infection.

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On Monday, Rakhmonov floated the idea of ​​challenging for an interim title. Ariel Helwani’s ShowHe locked in the “precious” Usman as a potential opponent in his first match since his win over Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in December.

Less than 24 hours later, Usman would hint at his own comeback story…

“Badass! I’ll be back soon,” Usman wrote on Instagram.

Before Rakhmonov was booked to fight Muhammad, Usman was in talks for his next heavyweight title fight, given the lack of a clear #1 contender and the body of work in the division due to Colby Covington, Jorge Masvidal and TKO stoppages. Gilbert Burns.

But Usman is not alone at the top of the rankings; Fighters like former foes Leon Edwards, Jack Della Maddalena, Sean Brady, Ian Machado Garry and Joaquin Buckley are one or two wins away from the title. He is the only competitor ready and willing to fight Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 on short notice.

However, it remains to be seen whether the “Nigerian Nightmare” will become the first fighter to win the title with three straight losses.

An interim title isn’t enough, as Muhammad won the belt in July and is expected to defend it four months later, but we’ve seen interim titles created for short-term main eventers like Ciryl Gane and Derrick Lewis before. for the interim heavyweight title at UFC 265 after Francis Ngannou asked the UFC to defend his title a month later.

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