‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ returns

Kamaru ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ Usman will make his return to the Octagon when he faces Joaquin Buckley in the welterweight main event of UFC on ESPN: Usman v Buckley, set for the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, on the morning of Sunday 15 June 2025.

Usman (20-4) has not been in action since a majority decision loss to Khamzat Chimaev on his middleweight debut back in October 2023. The 38-year-old Auchi-born fighter has lost his last three matches in a row and has been written off as a championship contender by many critics, but insists that this is giving him motivation.

“Sometimes it takes people to count you out enough for you to go in there and say, ‘Okay, I’ll show you.’ These guys who are coming in to compete against me, anything they say, do, can, will be used against them inside that octagon,” said Usman.

“I am the judge, I am the jury, and in that cage I can also be the executioner. It’s my job to go in there and show them that, ‘Hey, you don’t eat until [the] big man eats first.’ And I am that big man. So let me eat again, and again, and again, and when I’m done eating, then these guys can come eat some… Right now, I’m still hungry.”

Buckley (21-6) has put together a six-fight winning streak to emerge as a rising force in the division, most recently stopping Colby Covington in December last year.

The 31-year-old ‘New Mansa’ expressed his respect for Usman, but insists he will bring an intensity to the fight that his opponent won’t be able to handle.

“I’m taking the same approach that I have for everybody else, I have to come get him,” Buckley said. “I respect everything that he has done, I respect everything that he has been able to accomplish, but he ain’t never fought nobody like me. Never.”

The rest of the main card features Rose Namajunas v Miranda Maverick in a women’s flyweight fight; middleweight fights pitting Mansur Abdul-Malik and Edmen Shahbazyan against Cody Brundage and Andre Petroski respectively; a bantamweight bout between Cody Garbrandt and Raoni Barcelos; and a light heavyweight clash in which Alonzo Menifield takes on Oumar Sy.

UFC ON ESPN: Usman v Buckley – main card

- Main event: Welterweight: Kamaru Usman v Joaquin Buckley

- Women’s flyweight: Rose Namajunas v Miranda Maverick

- Middleweight: Edmen Shahbazyan v Andre Petroski

- Bantamweight: Cody Garbrandt v Raoni Barcelos

- Middleweight: Mansur Abdul-Malik v Cody Brundage

- Light heavyweight: Alonzo Menifield v Oumar Sy