Khamzat Chimaev is down to fight Kamaru Usman as long as the former UFC welterweight champion is willing to make the move up to 185 pounds.
The response from Chimaev came after Usman addressed the potential matchup during a fiery appearance at UFC 290 where he voiced his frustration with trying to make the fantasy fight become a reality.
“You know, at the end of the day, I have been — and still am — the boogeyman of this division,” Usman said. “I asked for the guy. If you want to fight — you want to be a champion — cut the f****** weight and come fight.”
In a post on Twitter, Chimaev challenged Usman to meet him at middleweight rather than clashing at 170 pounds, which was apparently there the difficulty started with putting the fight together. Usman is obviously interested in fighting at 170 pounds where he was regarded as one of the most dominant champions in the division’s history while Chimaev has been flirting with a move up to middleweight due to continued struggles getting down to the welterweight limit.
“Kamaru Usman, why are you talking about me?” Chimaev said. “You said you want to fight [at middleweight]. The weight [is] no problem for you. You are the boogeyman but I am the wolf. Come up.”
Judging by that response, Chimaev and Usman remain far apart on actually making the fight happen, especially if they are still at odds over the weight class.
Chimaev hasn’t made an appearance in the UFC since this past September when his weight cutting woes forced a last minute change to his planned fight against Nate Diaz. Once Diaz opted not to fight a bloated Chimaev, who hit the scales at 178.5 pounds, which resulted in him facing off with Kevin Holland instead.
Chimaev won the fight with a D’arce choke submission less than three minutes into the opening round.
Since arriving in the UFC, Chimaev has widely been considered one of the top prospects in the sport and he became a serious threat at 170 pounds after a war with Gilbert Burns in April 2022 but that was also the most recent time he made the welterweight limit.
If Chimaev has no interest in making that cut down to welterweight again, it appears any hope for a fight against Usman may be out of reach.