Kamaru Usman and Israel Adesanya have many things in common, including their roots in Nigeria. The two are also known as good friends.

Many people assume that means they will never fight or compete against each other. The talks of them fighting stem from the trend of champions changing divisions in order to add a second division's belt to their collection.

Kamaru Usman's manager, Ali Abdelaziz, recently did an interview with TMZ where he talked about all of the possibilities for Usman. The middleweight championship ended up popping up.

“After [Canelo,] I've always said it, I want Kamaru to go up a weight class and fight for middleweight title,” Usman's manager said. “I believe that today Kamaru can go up and be 2 division champion.”

The fight is a tricky one to make as Kamaru Usman and Israel Adesanya are friends. Ali Abdelaziz doesn't want to get in between them but does see a way they can fight and remain friends.

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“It doesn't matter. I don't want him to fight his friend, that's what he believes in,” Abdelaziz said.

“But, you know, if it's two good friends – Mike Tyson told me this – if we're friends, let's make some money, man, and after that, we can shake hands.

“But I respect their friendship. I'm never gonna get in between that, but at the end of the day, if [Robert] Whittaker wins, Kamaru can go up and fight Whittaker, too. He'll whoop Whittaker.”

Kamaru Usman was asked about the fight by ESPN when he stopped by for his media appearances. For him, it's all about the money.

“Adesanya is my guy,” Usman said. “That's something that me and him have to discuss.

“There's a difference between fighting and competing.

“If me and him decide we wanna compete, and the UFC is throwing a $100 million dollars at us, then we'll make it happen.”

Kamaru Usman and Israel Adesanya also share one other thing in common. They're businessmen.