Dana White has provided fans with a surprising update on the status of Kamaru Usman following his KO loss at UFC 278.

Last Saturday night at UFC 278, Kamaru Usman’s phenomenal run as UFC welterweight champion finally came to an end. The former king was knocked out by Leon Edwards in the main event of the pay-per-view with the KO coming in the fifth round after Usman had raced into a 3-1 lead on the scorecards.

The loss sent shockwaves through the mixed martial arts world with Kamaru previously being viewed as the pound-for-pound best fighter in the sport, a position he now seems to have surrendered to Alexander Volkanovski - at least within the context of the UFC’s rankings.

Despite the dramatic nature of his defeat, the 35-year-old appeared to be doing well when addressing what happened in a recent interview with TMZ.

Now, during his post-Contender Series media scrum, Dana White has given his own update on where Usman’s head is at.

“We talked, he’s in great spirits. Obviously he wants the rematch bad, but he said I can’t tell you the weight that’s been lifted off me. There’s a lot of pressure that goes along with the run that he was on and [almost] tying and breaking Anderson’s record, you know, all that stuff, there’s a lot of pressure. 

“He’s looking forward to the rematch and I saw Leon today too. That kid is walking on water and couldn’t be higher than he is right now.”

The trilogy

It was always known that if Leon Edwards managed to defeat Kamaru Usman, the pair would likely run it back in a trilogy showdown at some point in the future.

Based on what both men and Dana White are saying, we could see it happening sooner rather than later with England being pinpointed as the chosen destination.

For now, though, Edwards’ focus is going to be on celebrating his victory and realising that life is going to be pretty different from now on.

Usman, meanwhile, clearly has the right attitude as he regroups from this setback and goes back to the drawing board.