{"id":479778,"date":"2026-02-17T03:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T03:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/479778\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T03:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T03:49:08","slug":"kamaru-usman-id-approach-khamzat-chimaev-rematch-a-little-different","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/479778\/","title":{"rendered":"Kamaru Usman: I’d approach Khamzat Chimaev rematch a little different"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kamaru Usman<\/a> proved to be a stern test for Khamzat Chimaev<\/a> on less than two weeks’ notice.<\/p>\n

Former welterweight champion Usman (21-4 MMA, 16-3 UFC) stepped in on short notice to face Chimaev in a middleweight bout at UFC 294. He rallied after a rough first round, but ended up losing a majority decision<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Usman has since rebounded with a dominant decision win over Joaquin Buckley<\/a>, and has a two-fight plan to ride out out his career. First stop is reclaiming his welterweight title by challenging Islam Makhachev<\/a> (28-1 MMA, 17-1 UFC), then getting his rematch against middleweight champ Chimaev (15-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC).<\/p>\n

“Islam is a phenomenal guy, phenomenal champion, what he’s been able to do,” Usman said in an interview with Eurosport NL<\/a>. “Styles make fights, and I think I’m the most difficult style for him right now. I think I’m the best test for him. Islam is extremely talented. That last fight, he made it look easy because the former champion, there was a deficit in the game and that happens to be where I am strong, as well. So I think that’s a tremendous matchup. I love Islam, but I think I get that title.<\/p>\n

“If I get that title, a lot of people wanted to see that rematch with Khamzat with a full camp. It was too short and I’ve been accustomed to fighting five-round fights. If I was able to get that opportunity again and to actually prepare for a big, strong Khamzat \u2013 because Khamzat is extremely talented. He’s done everything that was asked of him to do. He’s a good champion, and I think given that opportunity again, I approach that fight a little different.”<\/p>\n

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In an ideal world, Usman wants to ride off into the sunset by the end of next year.<\/p>\n

“2026, we want to say ‘Wow, I can’t believe you actually pulled that off and went and not only took one title, but you took two, and you walked away,'” Usman said. “Fingers crossed. Of course, welterweight first because I don’t think the other one happens without the welterweight one. I’m in this division, I’m still there, so why not take that one first?”<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Kamaru Usman sets sights on Islam Makhachev, Khamzat Chimaev rematch<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kamaru Usman proved to be a stern test for Khamzat Chimaev on less than two weeks’ notice. Former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,23591,192375,35894,5899,638,82,640],"class_list":{"0":"post-479778","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-islam-makhachev","12":"tag-joaquin-buckley","13":"tag-kamaru-usman","14":"tag-khamzat-chimaev","15":"tag-mma","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-ufc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}