Kamaru Usman may be down to fight Israel Adesanya after all -- that is IF the money's right -- according to manager Ali Abdelaziz, who tells TMZ Sports he wants his fighter to go up a weight class to attain a 2nd UFC title.
"I want him to beat Leon Edwards and I want him to go fight Israel Adesanya for the middleweight title," Abdelaziz said when speaking about his top-ranked pound-for-pound client.
Kamaru, the 170 lb. champ, and Izzy, the 185 lb. champ, have always shut down talks of them fighting ... because they're both Nigerian.
But, Ali doesn't believe that'd stop them if it came down to it.
"These guys, they're cool but I don't think they like best friends. Listen, if there's enough money for both of them, they'll fight in the parking lot. I know how people work. This has nothing to do with loyalty."
Abdelaziz continued, talking about the importance of attaining a title in 2 divisions.
"I like Israel, I love watching him. I'm a huge fan. He's a nice guy, but at the end of the day, I'm Kamaru Usman team all the way. I want to see Kamaru Usman before end of the road have two titles. I'm selfish. I'm greedy. Like Henry Cejudo says, I'm a gold digger."
In fact, Ali says Usman is even considering going up 2-weight classes ... all the way to 205 lbs.
"Kamaru's thinking about going to a light heavyweight and fight Jan Blachowicz, not fight Adesanya."
Of course, Jan lost his last fight to Glover Teixeira and is no longer the champ.
But, the point remains ... Kamaru is considering going up 35 lbs. and fighting a man who's significantly bigger than him -- a fight Abdelaziz believes his guy would win rather easily.
"Styles make fights. Kamaru will beat Jan for five rounds straight."
But first -- before an Israel, Jan, or matchup with anyone else -- the Nigerian Nightmare has to beat Leon Edwards ... who hasn't lost since (you guessed it) he was beaten by Usman in 2015.
That fight is likely to go down sometime over the next few months.