Kamaru Usman took to Twitter at the weekend to jokingly play down his role in Tyron Woodley’s losing run, which was extended on Saturday as the former UFC champion was knocked out by Jake Paul.
YouTube star Paul stopped Woodley in the sixth round of their boxing rematch, having previously outpointed his fellow American in August.
Woodley’s most recent defeat takes his losing run to six fights across mixed martial arts and boxing, with Usman having handed the 39-year-old the first of those losses.
Usman dominated Woodley to take the Missourian’s UFC welterweight title in March 2019, and the Nigerian-American still holds the belt.
Following that decision defeat, Woodley was outpointed by Gilbert Burns in May 2020, before suffering a TKO loss to rival Colby Covington five months later – injuring his rib in the fifth round after a dominant showing from his opponent.
This March, Woodley was submitted by Vicente Luque in the first round as he suffered a fourth straight loss in MMA to be cut from the UFC, giving way to his back-to-back boxing defeats by Paul, 24.
“I am not responsible for any of this!!!” Usman tweeted on Sunday, referring to his 2019 victory over Woodley.
Paul called out the welterweight champion after beating Woodley this weekend, also taunting Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal.
Paul is now 5-0 as a professional boxer, having knocked out each opponent he has faced – including Woodley’s close friend Ben Askren, a former MMA champion and UFC star.