Khamzat Chimaev is casting doubt on his fight with Kamaru Usman actually being a title eliminator bout.
UFC 294 will see the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev (12-0 MMA) going up against Kamaru Usman (20-3 MMA) tomorrow, Saturday, October 21st, at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. The co-main event will see ‘Borz’ and ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ in a middleweight bout.
Khamzat Chimaev, 29, last fought and defeated Kevin Holland (25-10 MMA) in September of last year at UFC 279.
Kamaru Usman, 36, will be entering the Octagon coming off back-to-back losses to Leon Edwards (21-3 MMA) at UFC 278 and UFC 286. The ultimate goal for Usman is to get back in the win column by handing Chimaev his first loss in the cage.
UFC CEO Dana White announced just last week that the fight between Kamaru Usman and Khamzat Chimaev would be a title eliminator, with the victor facing UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland in his first title defence.
During an appearance at UFC 294 media day this past Wednesday, Khamzat Chimaev reacted to the talk of a middleweight championship opportunity waiting in the wings, by saying:
“Actually, I don’t think about this (title) fight right now. I just focus on Usman. They promised me, like I said before, ‘Gilbert Burns, if you win against this guy, you’re gonna fight for the title.’ Since then, I wait two years. I fight again as well but didn’t get that title. So I don’t know what’s going on… I’m going after all heads in the UFC… If I finish everyone, stop everyone, they have to give me all belts.”
Khamzat Chimaev did fight and defeat Gilbert Burns (22-6 MMA) in April of 2022 at UFC 273. Following that victory, there was no title fight in the wings so it’s no wonder ‘Borz’ is skeptical of the ‘title eliminator’ tag at UFC 294.
Sean Strickland doesn’t think Kamaru Usman vs. Khamzat Chimaev will be all that competitive at UFC 294.
Given that the winner will be getting the next title shot, middleweight champion Sean Strickland will be paying close attention to Khamzat Chimaev vs. Kamaru Usman at UFC 294. However, Strickland expects Chimaev to run through Usman as he thinks the former welterweight champ only took this fight for a payday.
“So, here’s the thing, Usman’s not on a camp, Usman hasn’t been bulking up to middleweight, Usman took this fight for a paycheck. They said, ‘Hey Usman, here’s probably a couple million, you want to take this fight? We’ll give it to you. Usman said I can’t say no, I’m going to do it. It’s a win-win for Usman,” Strickland said on his podcast with Chris Curtis. “So, I think it doesn’t really count because you have Chimaev who has been training his ass off, who has been bulking up for middleweight and then you have Usman who’s been like, I’m going to take this to get a paycheck. To me, this is kind of a bullshit fight, they kind of needed to fill a seat and I got Chimaev.”
Although Sean Strickland doesn’t think the UFC 294 fight will be all that competitive, the middleweight champ thinks if the fight was at welterweight and on a full camp, he would pick Kamaru Usman to beat Khamzat Chimaev.
Kamaru Usman is currently a +270 underdog to beat Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294.