Former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman has expressed his disdain towards Khamzat Chimaev‘s demand for him to move up to middleweight in order to fight, and is considering facing either Stephen Thompson or Belal Muhammad as his next opponent.
Kamaru Usman is not too pleased with Khamzat Chimaev’s demands. The former UFC welterweight champion understands the appeal of matching up with the undefeated Chimaev, however, the likelihood of such a match in the near future is slim. This is due to Chimaev’s upcoming game against Paulo Costa in a 185-pound bout at UFC 294 in October. Meanwhile, Usman and Chimaev have been publically arguing about why their fight hasn’t happened yet. Chimaev has even questioned why Usman won’t move up to middleweight to face him.
Throughout 2023, Kamaru Usman was only able to appear once where he unfortunately could not regain the welterweight title from Leon Edwards. He is hopeful for a comeback this year, but he has now relegated Chimaev to the back of his mind. He stated on TMZ, “I’m shooting for this year, fall. We’ll see. I’ve already said, ‘Hey, I’m ready to fight,’ but the thing too is it has to make sense. Who on the planet didn’t agree that the Khamzat fight made sense?”
Further, he addressed Chimaev’s demand for him to fight at the middleweight category. He responded, “Wait, so you want to tell me, the former champion, at this weight, that’s No. 1 ranked in the world at that weight, that I need to move up to middleweight to fight?” He also offered a solution, “I even wanted to make it sweet and I said, ‘UFC, you know what? I’ll give you that catchweight. I’ll give you a catchweight. You name the catchweight and I’ll give it to you.’ And [Chimaev says,] ‘Oh no, I can’t make that. Come up to middleweight.’”
Looking forward, Usman recognizes that the upper tier of the middleweight division is replete with experienced fighters and emerging contenders. Contrary to suggestions, he has expressed disinterest in fighting Shavkat Rakhmonov since he has been his training partner at the Kill Cliff FC in Florida. Instead, he is open to fighting two-time UFC title challenger Stephen Thompson, who recently declined a bout against Michel Pereira at UFC 291 due to weight limitations. Moreover, he showed interest in facing the top-ranked fighter Belal Muhammad who has been on a 10-fight unbeaten run. However, Usman knows that this will only be possible if both fighters are willing to risk their rankings.