Kamaru Usman became the UFC Welterweight Champion with a unanimous decision win over Tyron Woodley in the co-main event of UFC 235, which took place less than two weeks ago.
The newly crowned champion is now on the road to recovery, as Usman recently underwent hernia surgery in Philadelphia.
Usman issued the following statement on the surgery via Instagram Stories (via Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie):
“I had knee surgery before, I thought this was going to be like that. This ain’t that at all – at all. This (expletive) different.”
There is no word yet on exactly why Usman underwent surgery on his hernia, but the fighter did suffer a fractured foot before competing at UFC 235. There is also no word at this time as to how long Usman is expected to be out of action for, but more should be known as the injury heals up.
Former UFC Interim Welterweight Champion Colby Covington is expected to be the first to challenge the newly crowned champion, it is unknown when the potential title bout will come together. In the aforementioned Instagram Stories video, a recovering Usman did hint that the fight with Covington would happen once the title holder fully recovers from the surgery.
(Note: A short time after the original story was posted, MMA Junkie updated their story saying that Usman had hernia surgery instead of the originally reported knee surgery.)
