Kamaru Usman Slams Khamzat Chimaev: ‘Cut The F—king Weight And Come Fight’

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – Kamaru Usman wants ‘Borz’ to return to Welterweight.

A potential matchup between Usman and Khamzat Chimaev has been discussed for several months, but nothing has come of it because they can’t agree on a weight.

UFC President Dana White shut down a catchweight bout in May because it means ‘absolutely nothing.’ Usman doesn’t want to move to Middleweight because he still has unfinished business in the division that he reigned supreme for several years.

So, with a catchweight denied and Middleweight out of the picture, Usman has put his foot down and challenged Chimaev to lose the weight and return to Welterweight.

“I see a lot of people [that have] obviously heard about the whole Khamzat situation. Everyone wants to see that. I went into Dana’s office and said, ‘Hey, okay, this is the guy you guys are saying, that is the next guy in a division. Okay, give me that guy.’ I said that to Dana,” Usman told reporters during a guest appearance during UFC 290. “You know, at the end of the day, I have been, and still am, the boogeyman of this division. I asked for the guy. If you want to fight, you want to be a champion; cut the f—king weight and come fight…I think he’s a really, really good fighter. Very, very good fighter. I like the guy.

“But hey, you want to fight? Cut the weight, and let’s fight. Be disciplined. He doesn’t want to do that anymore. You know, he’s got money now. He’s loving life, and he’s living good. He don’t want to cut the weight. He wants to eat, and he wants to move the goalposts for him. No, [if] you want to be champion. This is the gold standard right here, cut the weight and let’s make it happen.”

Chimaev has put on a lot of weight and muscle since his last fight at UFC 279 when he ran through Kevin Holland (watch highlights), and it seems like a move back to Welterweight looks unlikely.

White has hinted Chimaev will be fighting at Middleweight for the foreseeable future whenever he is asked but has yet to reveal the plans for him.

As for Usman, he is coming off a second straight loss to Leon Edwards and is stuck looking for a fight that makes sense.

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