UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman has teased a move up to light heavyweight through a fun face-off with Jan Blachowicz.

In the last three and a half years, Kamaru Usman has established himself as the king at 170 pounds. In many ways nobody, outside of Colby Covington, has been able to even come close to the man they call ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’.

The 35-year-old continues to go from strength to strength with each and every performance and if he can knock off one or two more contenders, there’s every chance he’ll go in search of a second belt in a new weight class.

It’s unlikely that he’d make the trek up to 185 as a result of his close friend Israel Adesanya currently holding the gold up there. Instead, he may be even bolder by jumping up to light heavyweight, where the championship is held by Jiri Prochazka who was able to knock off Glover Teixeira in an all-time classic last month.

Before that the champ was Jan Blachowicz and during International Fight Week, the two men crossed paths and engaged in a fun staredown that was seen by many backstage at the T-Mobile Arena.

In response to what went down, Usman dropped the following hint about his future on Instagram.

“Nothing I can’t Handle… But first the English #AndStill #P4P”

Defending his turf

If Usman is serious about going to the land of the giants then that’s great for fans all across the globe. At the same time, though, he can’t afford to forget about the task he has in front of him - Leon Edwards.

At UFC 278 on August 20, Edwards will finally get his long-awaited shot at the belt when he challenges Kamaru Usman in their Salt Lake City main event. Kamaru is the clear favourite with the bookmakers as of this writing but ‘Rocky’ is the kind of opponent that has the potential to surprise a lot of folks, including Usman himself.

But for the sake of this argument, if Usman does win, a venture up in weight could be the best possible avenue for him outside of chasing the Canelo Alvarez boxing match.