Kamaru Usman, the former welterweight champion, lost his third fight in a row in the UFC after falling to Khamzat Chimaev in the main event at UFC 294. Chimaev, an undefeated fighter, increased his record to 13-0 by defeating his opponent Usman.
Chimaev got right to business in the first round, going after Usman’s single-leg. Usman defended it well at first, but Chimaev was persistent and managed to get the Nigerian fighter to the floor. Chimaev dominated the remainder of the round, keeping Usman on his back and threatening with a submission.
The fight slowed down in the second round, with Chimaev opting to strike instead of wrestling, and he did manage to land one takedown with 30 seconds remaining, but he was unable to make much use of it.
Setting the stage for an exciting third and final round, Usman began with a bit of a rally. He was able to control the distance and land some solid boxing. But then Chimaev changed his stance and landed a nice double-leg takedown that killed Usman’s momentum.
The fight shifted back to Usman’s feet in the last 30 seconds, where Chimaev and Usman made efforts to win the fight once again.
Before this fight, Usman had lost three fights in a row, including two to Leon Edwards, and had not defended his UFC title in five attempts at welterweight. Chimaev had been scheduled to fight Paulo Costa, but Costa pulled out with an elbow injury, and Usman stepped in on 10 days’ notice to take the fight.
Now that Usman has lost, he will likely have a shot at his own UFC gold. Dana White said as much during an interview on the Pat McAfee Show.
It is a no-brainer, White exclaimed. “The fact that they’re fighting each other on short notice means that whoever wins this fight will get their next chance at the championship, barring injury or anything else that might happen.”
The Middleweight division has seen a lot of ups and downs recently, with the most recent shocker being the upset of the night being Adesanya by Strickland over the long-time champion, Alex Pereira.
“The Last Stylebender has been the champion for quite some time, except for that one time when he lost to Pereira,” White said. Now that Strickland has a much different opponent in Chimaev, he’ll have a lot more to prove.
