Khamzat Chimaev promises to take welterweight title from ‘Clowns’ Leon Edwards or Kamaru Usman ahead of UFC 286
Khamzat Chimaev has his sights set on the winner between Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman this weekend.
On Saturday night, Edwards will defend his UFC welterweight championship for the first time since capturing the title in what many have called the greatest comeback in UFC history last August. ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ heads into enemy territory in an attempt to reclaim the crown, but both men may have a much bigger problem awaiting them once their battle at the O2 Arena is in the books.
Undefeated welterweight (and sometimes middleweight) contender Khamzat Chimaev plans on making a run at the emerging 170-pound champion. ‘Borz’ made that abundantly clear on Instagram while responding to a post authored by the UFC hyping Saturday’s main event.
“Soon I’ll take my belt from this two clowns,” Chimaev said in his response.
Khamzat Chimaev Rise Up the Rankings and His UFC 279 Debacle.
12-0 in his mixed martial arts career, Khamzat Chimaev quickly rose near the top of the UFC’s welterweight rankings with a win over one-time title challenger Gilbert Burns at UFC 273. Five months later ‘Borz’ was scheduled for a main event showdown with Nate Diaz at UFC 279. Chimaev stepped on the scale eight pounds over the limit, narrowly causing the entire card to be canceled. Fortunately, the promotion was able to shuffle things around, moving Chimaev into a co-main event slot against fan-favorite Kevin Holland at middleweight.
Chimaev made quick work of Holland, but fans quickly turned on ‘Borz’ due to his completely unapologetic response toward missing weight and forcing the promotion to scramble at the last minute while depriving fans of the previously promised main event.
In the aftermath, it appeared that Chimaev would be forced into a permanent move to 185 pounds, but UFC president Dana White later revealed that ‘Borz’ wanted to stay at 170 and he would get one more chance to do so. If things go Chimaev’s way, that chance could very well come against the winner of Saturday’s headliner in London.
