Kamaru Usman says there is a logjam in the UFC welterweight division and, as a result, sees Darren Till and Santiago Ponzinibbio as the frontrunners to be his next opponent.

The problem, however, is that Usman (12-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) has doubts the UFC’s vision aligns with his own, and he believes the promotion is reluctant to give him what he wants. Moreover, “The Nigerian Nightmare,” who has seven consecutive UFC wins, said his wishes will only be granted out of necessity, and that’s a frustrating spot to be in.

“What a lot of people don’t understand is a lot of these guys say whatever they want in public. They say, ‘I’ll fight anybody, anytime, anywhere,’ but when it’s actually brought up in the conversation, they all go silent,” Usman told MMAjunkie. “When it comes to me, I don’t get my fair shake, and it’s because these guys know there’s no winning when it comes to fighting me. It’s a matter of, ‘How can I survive?’ UFC has their favorites and their guys that they’re going to promote.

“Darren Till has five fights in the UFC – 4-0-1. You have a draw. Someone who’s probably not in the UFC anymore has a draw with you in the UFC. And one of those fights you did not make weight for. And another one was a close decision. Then he beat another guy (Donald Cerrone) who is a lightweight, who has openly said he wanted to make the cut back down to lightweight because he can’t handle these big guys up here. You beat a lightweight, and everyone’s acting like Darren Till’s the greatest fighter on the planet. He’s walking around talking about his legacy because he beat one guy. One lightweight, then you’re talking about creating a legacy? You haven’t even fought a real welterweight yet, and everyone’s acting like he’s the biggest thing. And the UFC’s doing everything in their power to keep him away from me.”

Till (16-0-1 MMA, 4-0-1 UFC) has generated a lot of hype since his knockout of Cerrone at UFC Fight Night 118 in October. The UFC recently announced the Brit would headline UFC Fight Night 130 in his hometown of Liverpool this May, but his opponent has yet to be determined.

Usman wants to fill the vacant spot but has serious doubts about his chances. Usman, with 11 consecutive wins dating back to May 2013, has rolled through his competition and desperately wants a true challenge. He’s taken his shot calling out nearly every top name at 170 pounds, but to no avail. The 30-year-old doesn’t think Till has proven himself to where the attention he’s received is justified, and he wants the opportunity to play spoiler and expose the unbeaten rising star on his home stage.

On paper, Usman’s standout grappling and ever-improving striking could present stylistic difficulties for Till. Usman said neither the UFC nor Till want to find out if that’s the case, though, and ultimately that’s one of the greatest sources of discontent.

“I’m not saying, ‘He’s scared of me, he’s terrified of me and that’s why he doesn’t want to fight me,'” Usman said. “It’s just a matter of this is the sport now. At one point it was about who is the toughest, who is the best mixed martial artist. … If you say you’re the best mixed martial artist, you should be able to stop someone from taking you down if you feel like you have the better striking. If you can’t stop a guy from taking you down, then you’re not the best mixed martial artist. You’re just a guy that can strike very well. I can honestly say I’m the best mixed martial artist, because not only can you not take me down, I can take you down, or I can keep the fight standing and beat you up all night. No one else in the division can say that.

“So I’m not going to say Darren Till is scared of me, but I believe he is scared of what this could do for the event that they’re trying to build. He doesn’t want the hype train to be derailed, and neither does the UFC.”

If the Till fight doesn’t materialize, there’s an event one week prior to Liverpool that also has Usman’s attention. UFC Fight Night 129, which marks the UFC’s debut in Chile, is expected to be headlined by Ponzinibbio (26-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC). The Argentinian is riding a six-fight UFC winning streak of his own and is the UFC’s most successful non-Brazilian fighter from South America.

Given their placement and the state of the division, Usman said a matchup with Ponzinibbio also makes sense. However, he foresees similar problems with circumstances as he does with Till. Usman believes he has strong insight into the UFC’s inner-workings and how it wants to use the May events to build up his fellow welterweights. But he believes the UFC will be left with no choice but to book him against one of them, though, and he made a confident guess as to who that will be.

“The UFC got itself in a situation here,” Usman said. “This is the situation right now in the welterweight division: Darren Till and I are sitting at No. 7 and No. 8 (in the UFC’s rankings). No one above us will take a fight with either him or I, absolutely not. A couple of guys above us are actually terrified of us. Colby Covington being the first one. He is definitely terrified because he only wants (Tyron) Woodley. He thinks, ‘I already got up here, so I’m not going to risk getting beat up by any of these other guys. If I’m going to get beat up I want to get paid for it by fighting Woodley.’ Nobody above us will fight us.

“Then on top of it the UFC are really trying to break new ground this year. Liverpool being of them, but then Argentina being another one. So for the first time the UFC is going to Chile, and who is headlining that card? Santiago Ponzinibbio. If he wasn’t headlining he’s a shoo-in as the guy you throw at Darren Till. It’s a shoo-in. But they’ve already scheduled him to headline Chile, and now you’ve got Darren Till scheduled to headline Liverpool. So they’re two hype trains that the UFC doesn’t want to derail because they want to, later on this year, take Ponzinibbio to Argentina to headline a card in his home country. So it would suck for him to get his ass beat in Chile before you go to Argentina. Same with Darren Till. It would suck for him to go break ground in his home town and have him get his ass beat.

“So basically they’re doing everything they can to keep these guys winning, but someone has to take the bullet because no one above us will fight us. So either you throw Santiago at me or you throw Darren at me. I believe they see more value with Darren Till, so chances are they’re going to try to throw Santiago at me if they can’t find anybody else. So I would say there’s probably a negative 100 percent chance I get Darren Till in Liverpool.”

Although he’s not booked, Usman is in the gym training as if he is. And the bottom line is that he expects to be in the octagon against either Ponzinibbio or Till in roughly two months – probably Ponzinibbio. And if that’s not the case, he said some major problems are afoot.

“I’m already in camp,” Usman said. “I’m in camp for somebody. It’s just a matter of who the UFC is willing to gamble on, because I’m fighting one of those guys. And If I don’t fight one of those guys, you know the UFC has a serious issue here.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 129 and UFC Fight Night 130, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.