Usman says he fought Masvidal with broken nose
Kamaru Usman wasn't fully healthy when he fought Jorge Masvidal last summer.
The UFC welterweight champion revealed Thursday he "shattered" his nose two weeks before his latest title defense, which headlined UFC 251 in July.
"A lot of people didn't know it, but before that fight, I broke my nose," Usman told ESPN's Brett Okamoto.
He added: "Going into that fight, having something like that on your mind, like, 'Oh my goodness, my nose is broken, I don't want to have to deal with this.' It kind of sucks and it kind of changes the trajectory of how you see certain things."
Usman said he suffered the injury during a training session in Denver with former UFC interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje and MMA lightweight Carrington Banks.
"We get after each other," Usman said of his training with Gaethje. "That's the one thing about Justin is he doesn't pull punches. He's not like, 'I'm going to go soft with you.' Justin's all about giving you that realistic feel, and he definitely does that."
Usman is scheduled to defend his 170-pound belt against Gilbert Burns in the UFC 258 main event on Feb. 13 in Las Vegas.