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LAS VEGAS – It’s been a bit of bizarre year for Kamaru Usman, but ahead of perhaps his most important fight yet there’s a sense of calm.

Usman (13-1 MMA, 8-0 UFC) on Friday meets former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos (28-10 MMA, 17-8 UFC) in the TUF 28 Finale headliner. It will be his third fight in 2018, but he was hoping for it to be more like his fourth or fifth.

Instead, Usman got sidetracked a bit a few months ago, through no fault of his own. Usman was tapped to essentially stand in the on-deck circle at UFC 228 – just in case Darren Till missed weight for his welterweight title shot against champion Tyron Woodley. Till had missed the welterweight limit his prior fight, so Usman was the emergency Plan B – even if Woodley didn’t plan on signing off on it.

“I’m thinking, ‘OK, I’m training for a world title fight. All right,’” Usman today told MMAjunkie. “It’s a different level of training when you know this is for all the marbles – you’ve got to give it a little extra ‘mmph.’ And then here comes the statement from Tyron saying ‘I’m not going to fight (Usman) if (Till) doesn’t make weight.’ So now, when you do something like that you force the organization’s hands …”

Even still, Usman said he was in an uncommonly good frame of mind, despite knowing he likely wouldn’t fight for the title that week in early September.

“My spirit was high the whole time,” he said. “I was at ease with the thought that, ‘Hey, if this is the opportunity, if this is the plan that’s supposed to happen for me, then it’s going to take place. If it’s not, then hey, we’ll just wait for our turn.’”

This week, Usman no doubt is hoping he might be able to earn his turn against dos Anjos at The Ultimate Fighter 28 Finale, which takes place Friday at the Pearl Theatre at The Palms in Las Vegas. The card airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

A win would make it 13 straight for the Season 21 winner of “The Ultimate Fighter” and would give him a perfect 9-0 start in the UFC. Plus, it would come over a former champ – which could cement his case to be next in line for the welterweight title.

In this case, Usman believes he’s got plenty of advantages over dos Anjos. He’s more than a 2-1 favorite in the fight.

“Very tough guy – very well-rounded fighter,” Usman said. “It just comes down to when you get into a fight with a guy, someone’s going to win, someone’s going to lose. Period. Someone’s always going to be a better man at the end of that day. This is just one of those cases where he’s just going to be outmanned and outgunned. I’m just a bigger, stronger, faster version of what he’s faced in the past.”

But considering dos Anjos’ decision to move up to welterweight after he lost his lightweight title to Eddie Alvarez and followed it up with a loss to Tony Ferguson, Usman thinks he might not have the same kind of killer instinct he had when he was champion.

At welterweight, dos Anjos started 3-0 with wins over Tarec Saffiedine, Neil Magny and former champ Robbie Lawler before a loss to Colby Covington in an interim title fight at UFC 225 earlier this year. But at 170 pounds, dos Anjos saves himself the physical agony of cutting an extra 15 pounds – and Usman believes him to be a true lightweight.

“I’m not taking anything away from him – he’s a tough guy. He’s been in this sport a long time. Champion – he’s reached the pinnacle of the sport. But the difference I see between him and I, he’s a welterweight now, as opposed to a lightweight. He’s a legit lightweight – but he’s chosen to forego one of the biggest sacrifices that we do in this sport. When you do that, that kind of gives me a sense that’s no longer your focus – being at the pinnacle, being the best, that’s no longer your focus anymore.

“Now it’s about you’re older, you’ve got a family – it’s about feeding your family and getting a little bit of money to chase the next venture. But I’m still chasing greatness.”

For more on the TUF 28 Finale, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.