Kamaru Usman once looked invincible. The Nigerian was very much the boogeyman of the welterweight division and had a fourteen-win streak in the UFC. That was until he faced Leon Edwards at UFC 278 last year. After dominating the bout for the majority of the five rounds, a devastating head kick knocked him out.

After defeating Usman at UFC 278, Edwards managed to win against him at UFC 286 too. Thus, he officially ended Usman’s run as the boogeyman. However, he has another chance at the title, albeit in the middleweight division, if he wins his upcoming UFC 294 bout against Khamzat Chimaev on October 21 in Abu Dhabi. Usman’s corner and coaching team are one of the main reasons for his success. Does he still work with them?

Is Kamaru Usman still with Trevor Wittman?

Usman began his MMA career with the Blackzilians, a fighter squad headquartered in Florida. Henri Hooft, a former kickboxer and MMA trainer, was his coach. He also trained with Jorge Santiago, a former UFC fighter and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt.

The Blackzilians dissolved in 2017, and Usman joined Sanford MMA, another Florida club coached by Hooft. He kept training with Santiago and other fighters like Michael Johnson, Gilbert Burns, and Michael Chandler.

Usman then left Sanford MMA in 2020 to train with Trevor Wittman, a prominent striking coach, in the ONX Sports gym. Wittman also works with other UFC fighters, such as Justin Gaethje and Rose Namajunas. But speaking about this change in his coaching team, Usman said, “Florida was the base for a long time, but you grow from there. We always had a ton of guys, some of the best training partners out there, and some great coaches… But I wanted a little more specific attention at this point in my career…”

“It’s very tough to do that when there are 40 to 50 guys in the room with you who also need to get attention,” Usman said.

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Interestingly, at the time of this change, Wittman was the coach of his then-upcoming opponent, Gilbert Burns. Usman credited Wittman for assisting in honing his stand-up abilities and power.

Will Henri Hooft also corner the ex-champ at UFC 294?

For his upcoming title eliminator co-main event against Khamzat Chimaev, which he took on less than two weeks’ notice, ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ will have a strong team cornering him. He would have both Henri Hooft and Trevor Wittman in his corner for the bout.

“For the first time, Trevor Whittman & Henri Hooft will be in the corner of Kamaru Usman, per Ali Abdelaziz,” wrote MMA reporter Alex Behunin on Twitter.

Kamaru Usman had been calling out Chimaev following his second loss to Edwards in welterweight. But the Chechen had clarified that he would not be cutting weight and wanted to fight Usman at middleweight, which the former refused. Until now.

As Usman sets out to redeem himself and reinstate his reputation, his next middleweight bout against ‘Borz’ is a perfect opportunity for him to do so. Both Usman and Chimaev have elite wrestling skills. Talks about this matchup have been going on since Chimaev started making a lot of noise in the welterweight division. He was an upcoming fighter, whereas Usman was the division’s champion.

Kamaru Usman will now move up to the middleweight division for the first time to face ‘Borz’. The 36-year-old has gone through some serious knee injuries over the years. Additionally, facing Khamzat Chimaev on nine days’ notice is no easy feat.

If ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ can defeat Chimaev and beat Strickland again (as he did when they fought at welterweight in 2017), he will show his opponents that he is still the great fighter fans fell in love with.

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