Former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman believes there are only two names that make sense for him.

Usman hasn't competed since a decision defeat to current 170-pound king Leon Edwards in their trilogy fight back at UFC 286 in March.

A fight with Khamzat Chimaev appeared to be next but in the end, it never came to fruition with “Borz” now set to face Paulo Costa at UFC 294 in October.

That leaves Usman with two real options as his next potential opponent and one of them is Stephen Thompson.

“The only guys that would even make sense right now, Wonderboy, because he’s an opponent, he’s been around so long and he’s just that name to where it’s always a great fight,” Usman told TMZ (via MMA Fighting). “… His style is very, very difficult to fight. He’s just one of those names in my era that I never really got to fight. So I think Wonderboy I would definitely consider that.”

“Wonderboy” was set to compete at UFC 291 late last month, but decided against fighting Michel Pereira after the latter weighed in at 174 pounds.

The former title challenger received some stick for his decision, but Usman completely agrees with it.

“I know everyone’s crucifying him for not taking that fight, but why? I don’t understand that,” Usman said. “Why? I see people like, ‘He’s a b****,’ ‘He’s scared, he didn’t want to take the fight.’ Why? We signed on the contract and [Pereira] said that he was going to make this weight. He decided not to make that weight and [Thompson] told him, ‘OK, I need you to go back and I need you to make the weight.’

“And if he’s not going to try, why is that my fault? No, absolutely not my fault. So people need to stop that. Wonderboy did his job. He came in there, he made weight, he trained for the fight, and what else more can you ask from him?”

Thompson would certainly be interested in a fight with Usman. Whether the same can be said for Usman's other option remains to be seen.

“Belal Muhammad, he’s kind of sitting in that position where he’s like, ‘I don’t want to risk my title hopes. They’ve already told me that I would be next,’ whenever that is, even if it’s a year or whatever,” Usman added. “He doesn’t want to risk that chance for the title, so I think those are the only two guys that really make sense.

“If you look at the roster, who else? Those are the guys that make sense.”

Muhammad is on a 10-fight unbeaten run and is coming off a unanimous decision win over Gilbert Burns in April.