Khamzat Chimaev readily accepts Kamaru Usman's callout despite Dana White's reluctance
Kamaru Usman is targeting a fight against Khamzat Chimaev for his return to the octagon. 'The Nigerian Nightmare' believes a win over the surging Chechen-born Swede can put him back in title contention after losing consecutive title fights against Leon Edwards.
Chimaev has now accepted Usman's callout with a simple tick.
@USMAN84kg ✔️
'Borz' had also weighed in on Usman's callout in a previous tweet, seemingly threatening to retire the former champ. Chimaev wrote:
"Someone needs to be poisoned for retirement 🤝" Translated via Google
Надо кое кого отравить на пенсию 🤝
While Khamzat Chimaev has accepted Kamaru Usman's callout, Dana White will entertain the idea only under one condition.
'Borz' is seemingly set to move up to middleweight after having missed weight by 8.5 lbs for a welterweight clash against Nate Diaz last year. While Usman is eyeing another gold bid at welterweight, he has called 'Borz' out for a catchweight fight.
While White is open to the matchup, he believes it only makes sense at 185 lbs. The 53-year-old recently said on the Jim Rowe Show:
“What I hate about that fight and [Usman] calling him out, Usman is calling him out at a catchweight — I don’t do catchweights, I don’t like catchweights. Catchweights mean nothing. They mean absolutely nothing. If [Usman] wants to move up to 185 and fight [Chimaev], we could talk about it. But trying to fight him at a catchweight, I’m not interested in.”
Catch White's comments below:
.@DanaWhite on what's standing in the way of an Usman v Chimaev fight. https://t.co/j7luB18IWV
Dana White on the delay in Khamzat Chimaev's next fight booking
Khamzat Chimaev hasn't fought since his first-round submission win over Kevin Holland at UFC 279 in September 2022. While he has gone back and forth with Paulo Costa over social media, there is been no reports of a potential booking.
'Borz' recently vented out on social media, complaining about a lack of fight bookings despite enduring multiple training camps. However, Chimaev's comments contradicted the claims of UFC president Dana White.
White recently blamed Khamzat Chimaev's personal issues for the delay in his next fight booking, reiterating his claims of offering at least three fights to each UFC fighter per year. The UFC boss told TSN's Aaron Bronsteter:
"That's on him though, he's got stuff going on in his personal life. That's not because we're not getting him a fight. Obviously you know how it goes here, I talk about this all the time, we have to get guys three fights a year. So if we don't get guys three fight a year, we have to pay 'em. The only way that wouldn't happen is if they have personal stuff going on."
Dana White with an update on Khamzat Chimaev.
20 minutes with Dana White: tsn.ca/ufc/video/dana… https://t.co/Gvc2pNcn19