{"id":291329,"date":"2023-10-19T20:10:28","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T20:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/?p=291329"},"modified":"2023-10-19T20:10:28","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T20:10:28","slug":"usman-denies-injuring-himself-in-open-workouts-ahead-of-ufc-294","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/mma\/usman-denies-injuring-himself-in-open-workouts-ahead-of-ufc-294\/","title":{"rendered":"Usman DENIES injuring himself in open workouts ahead of UFC 294"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Kamaru Usman DENIES injuring himself in open workouts ahead of UFC 294, with &#8216;Nigerian Nightmare&#8217; insisting he did not say &#8216;something popped&#8217; in footage of him taking down Justin Gaethje<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Kamaru Usman comes into the fight with Khamzat Chimaev on short notice<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Some fans thought they saw him admit to injuring himself in open workouts\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li><strong>But Usman denies saying &#8216;something popped&#8217; as he grappled with Justin Gaethje<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Kamaru Usman has flatly denied injuring himself during open workouts ahead of UFC 294 after fans suggested he said: &#8216;Something popped&#8217;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The &#8216;Nigerian Nightmare&#8217; was seen grappling with Justin Gaethje in front of media before taking him down, saying something and ending the session shortly after.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Usman, who has had various issues with his knees in the past, was suggested to have said &#8216;something popped&#8217;, but he denied that on social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The former welterweight champion said: &#8216;This is why no one reads this sh***y ass blog.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;At what point while I was lightly drilling did you hear me say that to Justin. Stop with the clickbait you idiots.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Gaethje added: &#8216;He said &#8216;I&#8217;m good&#8217; or something like that. I thought he hit his head on the mat. I asked if he hit his head in this clip when we got up and he said no.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/19\/07\/76740343-12648071-Justin_Gaethje_was_taken_down_by_Kamaru_Usman_during_their_open_-a-6_1697697481496.jpg\" height=\"581\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Justin Gaethje was taken down by Kamaru Usman during their open workout<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/19\/07\/76740347-12648071-Usman_denied_saying_something_popped_shortly_before_the_pair_end-a-7_1697697486599.jpg\" height=\"578\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Usman denied saying &#8216;something popped&#8217; shortly before the pair ended the session<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/19\/08\/76740871-12648071-image-a-19_1697699029137.jpg\" height=\"152\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Fans will be desperate for Usman to be fighting fit ahead of Saturday&#8217;s mouthwatering co-main event.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His match-up against undefeated Chimaev is widely thought to be more interesting than the original match-up between the Chechen-born Swede and Paulo Costa.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Brazilian pulled out injured after suffering a nasty infection to his elbow, the gruesome pictures of which he shared online.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There was no clear indication from the footage that Usman&#8217;s knee gave out after taking Gaethje down to the mat.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The pair were enjoying a light session for the cameras and applauded those surrounding the elevated stage before making an exit shortly after the supposed incident occurred.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Usman is in the unfamiliar position of coming into the fight having lost two back-to-back.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/19\/07\/69365283-12648071-Usman_lost_twice_against_Leon_Edwards_and_is_looking_to_bounce_b-a-3_1697697414050.jpg\" height=\"426\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Usman lost twice against Leon Edwards and is looking to bounce back in Abu Dhabi\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/19\/07\/65943733-12648071-Chimaev_has_been_out_of_action_since_defeating_Kevin_Holland_in_-a-4_1697697428643.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Khamzat Chimaev has been out of action since last year but is favourite to beat Usman<\/p>\n<p>Leon Edwards took his crown and then defended it in the London trilogy bout, prompting this short notice move up to middleweight for Usman.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He believes he is in line for a title shot at Sean Strickland if he manages to find a way past Chimaev, who is regarded as one of the most dangerous up and coming fighters in the sport.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The 36-year-old said: &#8216;He\u2019s very skilled. He\u2019s strong, he\u2019s big, he\u2019s fast, he can wrestle, he can grapple, he can strike.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He has everything \u2013 but so do I. At the end of the day, we\u2019re all human beings. Everybody feels invincible until someone comes in and pokes that balloon.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It\u2019s a built-in,&#8217; Usman said of a potential title shot.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Sean Strickland\u2019s the champion. I\u2019ve already taken care of him. Not to say he\u2019s not better \u2013 he is.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;But I\u2019ve got a mountain in front of me that I need to scale and climb, so we\u2019ll get through that first and then we\u2019ll worry about what\u2019s next.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/19\/07\/76445835-12648071-Kamaru_Usman_is_stepping_up_on_short_notice_to_take_a_fight_agai-a-5_1697697451408.jpg\" height=\"427\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Usman is stepping up on short notice and thinks a win secures a middleweight title shot<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/mma\/article-12648071\/Kamaru-Usman-DENIES-injuring-open-workouts-ahead-UFC-294-Nigerian-Nightmare-insisting-did-not-say-popped-footage-taking-Justin-Gaethje.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kamaru Usman DENIES injuring himself in open workouts ahead of UFC 294, with &#8216;Nigerian Nightmare&#8217; insisting he did not say<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291328,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Usman DENIES injuring himself in open workouts ahead of UFC 294 - Sports Love Me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/mma\/usman-denies-injuring-himself-in-open-workouts-ahead-of-ufc-294\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Usman DENIES injuring himself in open workouts ahead of UFC 294 - Sports Love Me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kamaru Usman DENIES injuring himself in open workouts ahead of UFC 294, with &#8216;Nigerian Nightmare&#8217; insisting he did not say\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/mma\/usman-denies-injuring-himself-in-open-workouts-ahead-of-ufc-294\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports Love Me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-19T20:10:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Usman-DENIES-injuring-himself-in-open-workouts-ahead-of-UFC-294.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/mma\/usman-denies-injuring-himself-in-open-workouts-ahead-of-ufc-294\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/mma\/usman-denies-injuring-himself-in-open-workouts-ahead-of-ufc-294\/\",\"name\":\"Usman DENIES injuring himself in open workouts ahead of UFC 294 - Sports Love Me\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-19T20:10:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-19T20:10:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/mma\/usman-denies-injuring-himself-in-open-workouts-ahead-of-ufc-294\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/mma\/usman-denies-injuring-himself-in-open-workouts-ahead-of-ufc-294\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/mma\/usman-denies-injuring-himself-in-open-workouts-ahead-of-ufc-294\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/category\/mma\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Usman DENIES injuring himself in open workouts ahead of UFC 294\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sports Love Me\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\",\"name\":\"mediabest\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"mediabest\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Usman DENIES injuring himself in open workouts ahead of UFC 294 - Sports Love Me","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/mma\/usman-denies-injuring-himself-in-open-workouts-ahead-of-ufc-294\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Usman DENIES injuring himself in open workouts ahead of UFC 294 - Sports Love Me","og_description":"Kamaru Usman DENIES injuring himself in open workouts ahead of UFC 294, with &#8216;Nigerian Nightmare&#8217; insisting he did not say","og_url":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/mma\/usman-denies-injuring-himself-in-open-workouts-ahead-of-ufc-294\/","og_site_name":"Sports Love Me","article_published_time":"2023-10-19T20:10:28+00:00","author":"mediabest","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Usman-DENIES-injuring-himself-in-open-workouts-ahead-of-UFC-294.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"mediabest","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/mma\/usman-denies-injuring-himself-in-open-workouts-ahead-of-ufc-294\/","url":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/mma\/usman-denies-injuring-himself-in-open-workouts-ahead-of-ufc-294\/","name":"Usman DENIES injuring himself in open workouts ahead of UFC 294 - Sports Love Me","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-10-19T20:10:28+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-19T20:10:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/mma\/usman-denies-injuring-himself-in-open-workouts-ahead-of-ufc-294\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/mma\/usman-denies-injuring-himself-in-open-workouts-ahead-of-ufc-294\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/mma\/usman-denies-injuring-himself-in-open-workouts-ahead-of-ufc-294\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MMA","item":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/category\/mma\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Usman DENIES injuring himself in open workouts ahead of UFC 294"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/","name":"Sports Love Me","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609","name":"mediabest","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"mediabest"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291329"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}