Rising UFC star Khamzat Chimaev and former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman expressed their wish to fight each other, and UFC President Dana White loves that idea. But there is one thing that he is not going to allow, and that is the possibility of their fight being at catchweight. White would love to book that fight if it takes place in a proper weight category.

Usman and Chimaev have been trading verbal jabs through social media posts and interviews. It was the former champion who pitched the idea of fighting the Swedish star and then potentially fighting Leon Edwards for a fourth time in the future.

Khamzat Chimaev responded to Kamaru Usman’s challenge

‘Borz’ is well known for his social media antics and scuffles. He shared a tweet in response to Kamaru Usman pitching for a fight. The Russian fighter warned Usman that he might just consider sending ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ into retirement. Usman is already on a 2-fight losing streak which saw him lose his welterweight title as well. Chimaev tweeted, “Someone needs to be poisoned for retirement.”

Usman pitched the idea of fighting Chimaev in an interview with ESPN. He seems adamant and confident that he will climb back to the top despite the setback he faced against the reigning champion Leon Edwards. The 20-3 fighter also believes that a fight between him and ‘Borz’ could be a big headliner for the UFC. Even fans would not disagree with that.

Dana White is not interested in a catchweight bout

While the UFC president addressed that they are working to find a suitable opponent for Khamzat Chimaev, he is not a fan of him fighting Usman due to the weight category of the fight. He even communicated his thoughts to the former welterweight champion. Dana White said, “We have been looking at a lot of different opponents for Khamzat, but I do not like the Usman fight and I told Usman that.”

Dana White doesn’t see the value of fighting in a catchweight bout because there is no progression in the aftermath. “I don’t do catchweight. Catchweights don’t mean anything. There’s nothing interesting or exciting about them,” said the UFC president. He added, “At the end of the day, when the fight is over, neither guy really advances in any way, shape, or form.”

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Dana White will be more than to book Chimaev vs Usman if the fight takes place in the middleweight category. Otherwise, he will have no choice but to reject that proposal. We will have to wait and see what pans out in the future.

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