Kamaru Usman claims Khamzat Chimaev wasn’t ‘as special’ in octagon as hype around undefeated phenom

Khamzat Chimaev is a rising phenom in the UFC welterweight division. However, inactivity and a huge weight miss at UFC 279 caused his stock to go down. Later, the Chenchen fighter moved up in weight class and made his debut at middleweight against Kamaru Usman. The fight went to a majority decision with Chimaev winning. However, Usman now claimed ‘Borz’ had nothing special about his skill set.

Kamaru Usman recently joined Henry Cejudo and Chael Sonnen in his “Pound4Pound” show. As such, he discussed Khamzat Chimaev when Sonnen questioned his experience of fighting him. ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ stated the hype around Chimaev was unwarranted compared to what he experienced inside the cage. As such, he felt he could’ve pulled it off if he had believed in himself a little bit more.

You build him up in your head, then you get in there and you go ‘that wasn’t special’. There was nothing different that I haven’t seen. Had I given it a little bit more, had I given myself more credit, that would’ve been totally different.

Kamaru Usman (via YT-Pound4Pound Show)

There was no doubt about Khamzat Chimaev’s wrestling pedigree as the Chenchen rag-dolled all of his opponents. However, the question was whether it would fare against Usman who also had a wrestling base. It did, but only lasted the first round. The later rounds saw low output from Chimaev causing the fight to go to a majority decision from an arguable 10-8 in the first round. As such, Usman, who took the fight on short notice believed he would’ve edged out the decision if he had done more.

Usman took the fight at UFC 294 on an 11-day notice after Chimaev’s scheduled opponent Paulo Costa pulled out. As such, many commended his performance against ‘Borz’. On the flip side, many trashed Chimaev, and his reputation took a hit. However, the Chenchen revealed he injured his hand at the start of the fight. As such, a rematch between the two was the calling of the town ever since.

Kamaru Usman wants to rematch Khamzat Chimaev

Usman faced Chimaev at UFC 294 and ended up losing via majority decision. However, the decision became controversial as many believed Usman had done enough to secure a victory. Also, considering Usman took the fight on short notice and moved up a weight class, it remained a disadvantaged affair. Owing to all these reasons, Usman called for a rematch with ‘Borz’.

In a recent episode of ‘Pound4Pound’ on YouTube, Usman showed interest in a rematch with Chimaev. He wanted a five-round clash with the wrestling phenom and wanted Chimaev to prove himself as a championship-caliber fighter.

Also, he put forward the existing public opinion to make his case for the rematch. However, he had a few hindrances in booking the matchup like his friend Israel Adesanya returning to the same weight class. Here is what he said:

Who wouldn’t want to see (Chimaev vs. Usman 2)? Chimaev, he wants to be a championship fighter. He wants to be a championship-level fighter, why not do a rematch of that for five rounds? Everybody wanted that. Everybody wanted to see that."

Kamaru Usman (via YT-Pound4Pound Show)

Despite Kamaru Usman’s continuous callout, Khamzat Chimaev remained silent about it. Presumably, because he was promised a title shot next. However, as Usman claimed a rematch between the two could be an easy sell considering the controversial nature of their first fight.

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