Khamzat Chimaev: Jon Jones is No. 1 Pound-for-Pound, Not Kamaru Usman
Khamzat Chimaev believes Jon Jones to be the best pound-for-pound fighter and not the current ranked no. 1 Kamaru Usman.
Chimaev had expressed his desire to train with Jones in a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel. “Maybe I’ll write to Jon Jones. I said to him, I want to train with him,” said Chimaev as he continued to praise Jones’ impressive record with wins against notable opponents like Alexander Gustafsson and Daniel Cormier.
Jones had relinquished his 205-pound title and is currently ranked no. 7 in the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings. He hasn’t fought inside the octagon since his last outing against Dominick Reyes in February 2020. While his most recent bout was a razor-thin decision win for him, his continued dominance in the lightweight division makes it hard to argue he’s not at the top of the pecking order.
In an interview with The Triple C & The Schmo Show, Khamzat Chimaev shared his thoughts on Jones as he said, “He beat a lot of guys. He beats the monsters. I did all my training with Alex (Gustafsson). I know how good he is, and if Jon Jones could stop that guy, it’s scary. And he beat not easy fighters. It was crazy good fighters (with) knockout power.
“On the ground, it was good. Everything was perfect. (Daniel Cormier) – you know how his pressure is, good wrestling, and he has good boxing, and he has mentality of just pressure the fighters and kill them, and (Jones) stopped that guy, as well.” (h/t MMA Junkie)
Kamaru Usman climbed up the rankings after winning the welterweight title and defending it with some stellar performances including two wins over both Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington, each of whom he knocked out in one fight and took to decision in the other. With an overall five title defenses, Chimaev doesn’t believe Usman’s resume to be as good as Jones.
“You can’t say Kamaru is better than him,” Chimaev added. “If he stays in the game, (Jones) has to be pound-for-pound No. 1.
“Usman has only one belt, and how many times did he defend his belt? Three times? Four times? Jon Jones did it all his career and defended his title like 11 times. It’s different. Kamaru didn’t beat the guys that Jon Jones beat. The guys are different level.”
Will Khamzat Chimaev win the welterweight title?
Khamzat Chimaev is gearing up for his upcoming fight against no. 2 ranked welterweight contender Gilbert Burns at UFC 273 on April 9 in Jacksonville, Florida. If he is able to overcome this challenge and dispatch Burns the way we have seen him do to his previous opponents, there will be no doubts that he should be up for a title shot.
Reigning champion Kamaru Usman is healing from a gruesome hand ligament surgery. He’s scheduled to fight Leon Edwards in his return to the cage. Chimaev will be keeping a close eye on the bout as the winner of this fight could very well be lined up against him in his possible first UFC title shot.
