Once again, Kamaru Usman showed who the most dominant fighter is in the UFC welterweight division.
Usman used his wrestling base to control Jorge Masvidal for five rounds in earning a unanimous decision victory and retaining his welterweight championship at UFC 251 on Sunday on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Usman, who won his 16th straight fight overall, had Masvidal in the clinch for over 10 minutes of the 25-minute bout and landed 263 total strikes to the challenger's 68, according to UFC Stats data.
While the fight wasn't the most fan-friendly in terms of action, several UFC fighters took to Twitter to praise both Usman and Masvidal, who took the fight on six days' notice when Gilbert Burns dropped out of the bout last week after testing positive for COVID-19.
#andstill Pumped for @USMAN84kg glad to have him on the team. 6 days sucks, @GamebredFighter is as game as they come.
— Justin Gaethje 🇺🇸 (@Justin_Gaethje) July 12, 2020
I'm Very Hungry 😤😤 Im next! #UFC251 #UFCFightIsland
— GILBERT BURNS DURINHO (@GilbertDurinho) July 12, 2020
Respect to Masvidal for taking that fight last minute, most men ain't doing that.
— BONY (@JonnyBones) July 12, 2020
Congratulations to my brother 🇳🇬 @USMAN84kg for defending his belt and for doubling his belt BMF & undisputed welterweight champion #doublechamp #champchamp #andstill pic.twitter.com/FyePdOA3ZO
— Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) July 12, 2020
The same thing bro , it's a bad matchup man. USMAN won't struggle with strikers bro https://t.co/qrklMo6aQN
— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) July 12, 2020
Masvidal gonna get a rematch, called it earlier this week. Will cite 6 days notice and the fact that Marty couldn't do any damage.
— Funky (@Benaskren) July 12, 2020
Congrats my brother @USMAN84kg #ufc251
— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) July 12, 2020
@GamebredFighter didn't get the W tonight but he showed up for sure! @USMAN84kg proved that he is a great and deserving champion! Let's throw down man!! #respect #UFC251 #StrikervsWrestler @ufc @espnmma @arielhelwani
— Stephen Thompson (@WonderboyMMA) July 12, 2020
Usman put on a great performance. Should get a lot more respect and recognition than he does.
— Megan Anderson (@MeganA_mma) July 12, 2020
Solid effort by Masvidal on just 6 days notice 👏🏻👏🏻 #UFC251
Gotta respect the gameplan for a short notice opponent. #UFCFightIsland
— Dominick Reyes (@DomReyes) July 12, 2020
Congrats @USMAN84kg !!
— Frankie Edgar (@FrankieEdgar) July 12, 2020
In the end it all comes down to respect. Great to see. Congrats my man @USMAN84kg 💪🏽
— Dan "50k" Ige (@Dynamitedan808) July 12, 2020
Congratulations @USMAN84kg #UFC251 #andstill
— Jessica Penne (@JessicaPenne) July 12, 2020