Following Paulo Costa’s injury, Khamzat Chimaev will take on Kamaru Usman at this weekend’s UFC 294 event in Las Vegas. Usman stepped in at short notice to replace Costa due to Costa’s ailment. In the run-up to the fight, Chael Sonnen conducted an interview with both of the competitors at the same time. After the event, ‘The American Gangster’ went on his own self-titled YouTube channel to discuss the behavior of ‘Borz’ during the fight, and he said the following:
“I questioned Chimaev on a few different topics, and Chimaev was quite helpful. I mean, Chimaev is a great person to hang out with, and Chimaev was the one who started it all. I’m going to have some coffee. He is currently lounging in the lobby of the hotel on Fight Island. While we are waiting for Kamaru, we are engaging in some back-and-forth conversation, but as soon as Kamaru appeared on the screen, there was a different Chimaev. The rival immediately entered the arena. To put it another way, it’s as if you turned a light on or off.”
The former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight championship contender indicated that Chimaev would not rule out his ambition of becoming a double champion in the organization, and he added:
However, I did query Chimaev on a few different topics. To give you an example, I recently said, “Hey, 170 pounds—is that completely out of the question?” despite the fact that he did not consent. He predicted that he will be victorious in the middleweight division championship. I responded with, “okay, but we can’t go over 170, right?” This champion-champion business, moving up to 205, and everything else that we used to hear, and he was just really calm. He called me his brother and said, “Chael, I am going to be champion.”
Check out below (beginning at the 1:48 mark) Chael Sonnen’s entire thoughts on his interview with Khamzat Chimaev and Kamaru Usman:
Sonnen noted that Khamzat Chimaev had revealed that he is confident he would win the fight against Kamaru Usman. The mixed martial arts analyst, on the other hand, stated that he is unable to imagine “The Nigerian Nightmare” being submitted, which is the path that, according to him, “Borz” should take in order to earn a victory. This weekend in Abu Dhabi, at UFC 294, the two fighters are scheduled to face each other.
Gilbert Burns reveals why Kamaru Usman is a greater threat to Khamzat Chimaev than Paulo Costa
In his first fight at middleweight, Kamaru Usman will take on Khamzat Chimaev, who will provide a challenging opponent for him. Gilbert Burns has been in the same octagon as both competitors, and he is of the opinion that the former welterweight champion poses a greater risk than Paulo Costa, who was originally scheduled to meet Borz.
On his channel on YouTube, the user known as “Durinho” made the following statement:
“Khamzat was able to contact more people than Paulo Costa… Now, Kamaru has the upper hand in this battle thanks to his larger reach, not to mention his experience and everything else… At this point, everything is different. The guy now has a wider sphere of influence. The guy is more experienced now that time has passed. The next step is to select a wrestler for the match. The amount of time necessary to adjust your gameplay is really minimal. Oh, there was a huge difference. You folks are completely clueless. When it comes to a fight with short notice, many things might shift really rapidly.
Check out the full words that Gilbert Burns had to say about Kamaru Usman and Khamzat Chimaev below (beginning at the 2:59 mark):
In his career as a mixed martial artist, Chimaev has never been knocked out by an opponent; nonetheless, Usman will be Chimaev’s hardest opponent to date. Burns, who is the only competitor to have faced both opponents, believes that the fact that the fight was scheduled with such short notice will work in the advantage of the former welterweight champion.
