UFC: Usman Set For Middleweight Debut Against Chimaev
Former welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman, has been confirmed to fight Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294 after Paulo Costa was forced out of the clash due to an injury and Dana White confirmed the Nigerian as his replacement.
The bout had been thrown into doubt when Costa was forced to undergo elbow surgery. Usman will now move up to middleweight, from welterweight, to face Chimaev in a blockbuster UFC clash.
“You know what we’ve been dealing with this week. We just got the big fight done yesterday, the highly anticipated rematch in Abu Dhabi, Makhachev vs Volkanovski,” White said on social media.
“Now you’ve been waiting for the co-main event. Costa’s hurt, we got it done. The No. 4 welterweight in the world, Khamzat Chimaev, is moving up to middleweight and he will face the No.1 welterweight in the world, Kamaru Usman.”
Usman will be making his first appearance in the middleweight division after losing back-to-back title fights to Leon Edwards at welterweight. He had previously held the belt for three years from 2019 to 2022.
It is already the second change to UFC 294’s main event, with Alexander Volkanovski facing Islam Makhachev. Charles Oliveira was forced to withdraw due to a nasty cut he suffered above his eye during sparring.
Usman had always been reluctant about making the move to middleweight as he was not keen to face his compatriot, Israel Adesanya, who is the former two-time middleweight champion.
His reasoning was that it is better to have two Nigerian-born fighters be UFC champions than just one, and perhaps now that neither of them are champions, he has changed his mind.
“It’s bigger than just sport because I didn’t grow up seeing this,” Usman told pressmen in August last year. “ I never grew up and saw ‘oh wow, I could be an MMA fighter and be the world champion.’ I never grew up seeing that. But kids now get the privilege of seeing that.
“And not just one champion, you have two, and we’re different flavours, we’re completely different flavours. Izzy does it with his flair, I love his flavour and how he does it. Then I do it with my style. This is just different styles for them to be able to see and pick from, so that means more to me; having two Nigerian champions than just one.”
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