Kamaru Usman (photo via UFC)

By FCF Staff

Dana White repeatedly praised the abilities of Kamaru Usman leading up to UFC 235, but the UFC President admits he was surprised with how Saturday’s fight unfolded.

Usman took the welterweight title from Tyron Woodley at the event, by outwrestling the powerful fighter and outscoring him in the clinch. After the one-sided, impressive performance, White had this to say about Usman and Woodley (quotes via MMA Junkie):

“He completely got outwrestled all night,” White said. “The reason I wanted this fight and thought it would be a great fight is because I believed Usman would go after him. Normally Woodley is so fast with his hands and he’s such a good wrestler that most guys can’t do both with him. Usman could do both. Usman could wrestle with him, but I didn’t expect Usman to go in and absolutely dominate him the entire time wherever he wants to go. No, I didn’t see that coming.”

“Woodley looked less than flat,” White said. “I don’t know. Did he have an excuse to why he looked bad? I didn’t know if Woodley was going to come in here and say he was hurt or something happened. But yeah, he didn’t look like Woodley tonight. He looked flat.”

The win on Saturday was Usman’s 10th straight in the UFC and it moved his overall record to 15-1.