Kamaru Usman believes he has a solution for Fighting Nerds’ current struggles.
The former UFC welterweight champion Usman (21-4 MMA, 16-3 UFC) has been watching closely as the Brazilian team’s core group of stars have each suffered their first defeats inside the Octagon over the past few months, derailing some of the hype they had collectively built after an electrifying start to their UFC careers.
Carlos Prates (22-7 MMA, 5-1 UFC) was the first to stumble when he was outpointed by Ian Machado Garry in the main event at UFC Kansas City back in April, although “The Nightmare” has since returned to the win column with a devastating spinning-elbow knockout over Geoff Neal at UFC 319 last month.
Both Mauricio Ruffy (12-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) and Caio Borralho (17-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC) saw their unbeaten UFC runs snapped by Benoit Saint Denis and Nassourdine Imavov respectively at UFC Paris, while Jean Silva (16-3 MMA, 5-1 UFC) became the latest Fighting Nerd to taste defeat when he was stopped by Diego Lopes at Noche UFC last Saturday.
"They have an incredible team, I think they could add to that team, and that's probably someone to work on the wrestling," Usman said on his Pound 4 Pound podcast with Henry Cejudo. "Having that wrestling background is something Caio Borralho could have utilized in getting those takedowns in that fight, which I think could have potentially helped him and blew that fight away.
“With Carlos Prates, the fight that he did lose to Ian Garry, of course Ian was really good at just moving away and then maybe drop down and get a takedown, control him. Then the Mauricio Ruffy fight, Saint Denis was just all over him. Once he got him down, he was able to punish him down there.
"So, I do think these guys would definitely benefit from a wrestling coach. ... We had Greg (Jones) at one point. We had Kenny Monday at one point. We've had Mike van Arsdale at one point. Our team, I think that our foundation was when we were the Blackzilians, it was hot.
“The one that they did very well is Rashad Evans made it a point for us to have a wrestling coach because obviously you know Rashad is a wrestler, as well. We had to have a wrestling coach because everyone knew our standup was so good at that time because of coach Henri Hooft. This is something that the Fighting Nerds can utilize, is getting a good wrestling coach out there."
