A two-weight champion has been the goal of many big hunters, but it was not a reality for one dominant champion.
As the old manager of people like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev, Ali Abdelaziz has been involved in some of the greatest fights of all time.
In 2025 alone, he will play an important role in some of the most important matchups of the year, whether it is the switch from Makhachev to Welterweight to challenge Jack della Maddalena or Magomed Ankalaev's Rematch with Alex Pereira.
The UFC may have built up a reputation for giving fans the fights they want to see, but sometimes, as in the case of Jon Jones vs Tom Aspinall, the pieces do not fall into place.
This can be done for a whole series of reasons and in some rare cases it is the relationship between two hunters who stop them from competing in the Octagon.
Ali Abdelaziz calls Kamaru Usman vs Israel Adesanya as the fight he wishes he could have made
In a recent appearance on the poundcast of Pound 4 Pound, Ali Abdelaziz was asked what the only fight is that he is particularly disappointed about the fact that he can never happen.
For example, fans have always speculated about the prospect to see the large Georges St-Pierre return to the Octagon to see if he could be the man to put an end to the unbeaten run of Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Surprisingly, Abdelaziz did not mention Nurmagomedov against 'GSP' as the one who comes to mind when he thinks about missed opportunities.
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
In fact, his fight that has come, the former champion who asked him the question on the podcast, Kamaru Usman.
Usman defended the welterweight title five times, but there was never serious talk about him who might have went to middleweight to fight for a second belt.
That is because for the vast majority of his reign, the champion at the weight class above was his good friend Israel Adesanya.
“Do you want to be honest? You versus Israel Adesanya,” Abdelaziz admitted. “I am just honest. I love Israel … He is really a good person, you can't take that from him. But the way I looked at was like that. It wasn't about money.
“It had nothing to do with money. Israel went and he fought in light heavyweight, he got his chance. I had something like that, why can't I get my brother, the man I love my best friend to fight against middleweight.
Ali Abdelaziz claims that the UFC also wanted Kamaru Usman against Israel Adesanya
Ali Abdelaziz further revealed why the fight did not happen, even though he pushed it and spoke publicly about it.
He also claimed that the UFC was behind the matchup, but Kamaru Usman was the one who had the last word to reject it.
“I am not going to say who is going to win or lose, I just want him, he could have had this, but listening to me, UFC wanted this. Kamaru went against it and this is honestly to God the truth. The only reason that this fight did not happen is because Kamaru did not allow it to happen.”
Abdelaziz added that the fight would have earned them both a lot of money and that if he could have done that, he believes that Usman could have been successful in both middleweight and light heavyweight when he was in his prime.