UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman has posted a series of messages on social media telling a “hater” to “kill themselves”.
Usman, 34, sent several posts from his Snapchat account at the weekend, in which he reacted angrily to an unidentified follower who was watching his story.
The messages read: "Whomever you are watching my story please choke yourself.
"2022 just started and your life is centred around others."
The next post read: "Better yet kill yourself. Have fun watching my life & not yours."
Usman later took to Snapchat to explain the reason behind his outburst.
"Let me clear this up, I know that was tough. It was 4am in the morning, it was a little slizzered and obviously, I typed that the wrong way," he said in a video.
"Let me rephrase this for that hater, you know who you are, that particular hater there's one of you or maybe two of you that keeps watching my story so you can have something to hate on.
"Choke yourself, it's me saying it now, choke yourself.
“For the rest of my fans, my real fans I love and appreciate you guys, I always have and always will."
Usman successfully defended his UFC welterweight title against Colby Covington in their rematch at UFC 268 in November.
'The Nigerian Nightmare’ is now unbeaten in his last 19 fights in MMA, an incredible run which stretches back to 2013.
Usman’s next fight is yet to be confirmed, with British fighter Leon Edwards touted as one potential opponent.
The pair previously fought back in 2015, with Usman winning via the judges’ scorecards.
Edwards has won nine of his 10 fights since then, the exception being last year's meeting with Belal Muhammad which ended as a no contest after an accidental eye poke.
Speaking last year ahead of Edwards’ planned fight against Jorge Masvidal, which was later cancelled, Usman told BT Sport: “Leon has been on a roll and knocking out guys.
“Of course, if Leon goes out there and wins impressively, absolutely I believe he deserves the shot. We’ll see what happens with that.”
Topics: UFC, Kamaru Usman
Rory O'Callaghan