Kamaru Usman offers Conor McGregor 'no takedown' clause for title fight

UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman has sensationally offered Conor McGregor a ‘no takedown’ rule if the Irishman agrees to fight him.

McGregor has talked up a run at welterweight and recently declared himself one of the greatest fighters of all time.

Usman is eager for his next fight to be booked and has slammed McGregor for going quiet and Jorge Masvidal for seemingly snubbing the chance to face him.

McGregor would be a big underdog against Usman, but the wrestling expert insisted he was prepared to stand with the knockout artist.

‘I can absolutely take anybody down that I choose to take down,’ he told ESPN.

‘I will even sign for Conor McGregor and tell him “you know what, we’ll put it in the contract first and second round I won’t take you down”.

‘We’ll put it in the contract! I’m not going to take you down.’

‘I would absolutely sign that contract,’ he added.

‘The crazy thing to me is people are still under the impression that all I can do is wrestle. In my last fight I could have taken this guy down and I chose to stand with him.

‘With Woodley I could have taken him down but I stood with Woodley and almost got him out of there.

‘RDA (Rafael dos Anjos), I stood with him the whole time and I almost got him out of there in the last round. Demian Maia, I stood with him all five rounds.

‘For people to really say I’ll try to take him down, yeah if I want to. If I want to you down, I’ll take you down.

‘There’s no ifs, ands, buts about that. Can I stand and strike with you? Absolutely. Am I going to try and knock out Conor McGregor?

‘Absolutely. I am going to try to take his head off his f-ing shoulders.’

McGregor appears to have taken a break from social media after firing off tweets consistently for several days.

There has been talk of McGregor competing on Dana White’s Fight Island, but that is yet to launch and the two-weight champion is still on lockdown in Ireland due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Usman is yet to hear anything publicly or privately from McGregor about a potential showdown, but the 33-year-old insists he is ready to fight immediately.

‘I’m gonna give him the opportunity, if Conor wants, let’s do it,’ he said. 

‘But Conor’s quiet now. Who says no to a title shot? I’ve never seen this in history, who says no when the champ says come and get your title shot?

‘Unless you know you have no chance in hell of winning. This might change the landscape of your fighting career ever.

‘That’s the only chance I can see people saying “I’m going to pass on that title shot right there”.’

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