Speaking to Oscar Willis of The Mac Life, Khamzat Chimaev covered several subjects. This included his upcoming pay-per-view main event fight against Nate Diaz in a few weeks, this weekend’s welterweight title clash between Kamaru Usman and Leon Edwards, and more.
Khamzat Chimaev is open to a fight with Jorge Masvidal if a UFC welterweight title shot does not come for him in the near future.
When asked for his thoughts regarding whether or not he will fight the winner of Usman vs. Edwards II, Chimaev said:
“We will see. If Kamaru wins the fight, I think he’s going to take a long time to come back. Maybe he [will] retire. I think the guy’s scared of me. He always talks about, ‘Maybe [I’ll] finish [the fight], maybe [I’ll] finish [the fight].’ I hope he [wins] the fight [so that] I fight with him. But if he [steps away from fighting], Jorge… I might have to smash his face as well.”
Khamzat Chimaev is riding a twelve-fight winning streak dating back to his amateur days and is undoubtedly one of the biggest stars in the UFC.
According to Dana White, a possible welterweight title shot could await either Chimaev or Diaz depending on who wins their blockbuster bout.
Listen to White’s full comments in the video below:
While Khamzat Chimaev is set to clash with Nate Diaz at UFC 279 on September 10, the question of what’s next for the Swede still looms.
Many see this upcoming bout as a foregone conclusion and believe that the UFC is giving Diaz the roughest possible stylistic matchup as punishment for publicly expressing his desire to leave the promotion.
Khamzat Chimaev is currently the No.3-ranked contender in the UFC’s welterweight division and should continue to compete against the best fighters in the promotion’s 170 pound talent pool.
‘Borz’ fighting someone like the No.1-ranked contender, Colby Covington, would make a great deal of sense. Curiously, ‘Chaos’ has largely been absent from the public eye and remained fairly quiet amid ongoing legal issues after a reported out-of-the-cage attack from Jorge Masvidal.
Masvidal and Vicente Luque are currently tied as the No.9-ranked fighters in the division, but his huge name value should incentivize Chimaev to clash with him despite his lower ranking.
