Former Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman Suffers Third Consecutive UFC Loss to Undefeated Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi
Khamzat Chimaev Maintains Undefeated Streak with Majority Decision Victory Over Kamaru Usman
Khamzat Chimaev Bests Kamaru Usman with Majority Decision Win at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi
The fight took on a much slower pace in the second round. Chimaev did not press the wrestling for most of the round, opting to strike in a slow kickboxing bout. He did land a takedown with 30 seconds left in the round, but didn’t do much with it.
That set up an interesting third and final round. Usman started off with a nice rally. He controlled the distance and landed some solid boxing, but his momentum came to a screeching halt when Chimaev changed levels and landed a double-leg takedown.
Usman ultimately worked his way back to the feet in the final 30 seconds where both men put the finishing touches on their case to win the feet.
Usman is now on a three-fight losing streak with two losses to Leon Edwards, but he had five consecutive title defenses at welterweight leading to that point.
Chimaev was supposed to fight Paulo Costa in this spot, but he withdrew from the fight due to an elbow injury and Usman accepted the fight on 10 days’ notice and had to gain weight in the short peroiod.
With a win over the former champion now in hand, he will likely get a chance to grab some UFC gold of his own. Dana White recently said as much in an interview on The Pat McAfee Show.
“That is an absolute fact,” White said. “The fact that these guys are taking this fight on short notice, (the winner) will get the next shot at the title barring injuries and other things that can possibly happen.”
The middleweight division has been thrown into a state of flux recently with the upset loss of Israel Adesanya to Sean Strickland. The Last Stylebender had been the dominant champion outside of a loss to Alex Pereira but the tides have shifted.
It looks like Strickland might have a lot to prove with a much different test on tap with Chimaev.
