Despite having contenders waiting in his own division, Khamzat Chimaev keeps pushing for a fight against Alex Pereira. The tension between the two dates back to their time sharing the middleweight division, but it has only grown now that ‘Poatan’ sits on the light heavyweight throne. Recently, ‘Borz’ even called out the Brazilian for a future clash at the UFC White House, taking a shot at his coach, Glover Teixeira, along the way. Amid the rising animosity, many believe the former 185-pound champ is simply chasing the biggest fight available. But Kamaru Usman sees it differently.

According to the former welterweight champion, Khamzat Chimaev’s motivation has little to do with chasing a second belt. ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ suspects that ‘Borz’ is struggling to make the middleweight limit and is eyeing a permanent move to 205 pounds. For that very reason, the ex-170-pound king believes Chimaev is relentlessly chasing Alex Pereira.

Kamaru Usman suspects Khamzat Chimaev is struggling to make 185 lbs

“Well, this is my thing. For Khamzat Chimaev to continue to call him out, I think Khamzat potentially has outgrown the weight class again. I think he has outgrown the weight class again, where now he’s like, ‘you know what, let me go capture that. Let me go to a new division where I can make the weight and I capture that. Because there’s all types of rumors and things coming out and saying that he’s 230 lbs, 225, whatever,” Kamaru Usman said on the Pound 4 Pound podcast with Henry Cejudo.

Khamzat Chimaev has dealt with weight-related issues before, especially during his time at welterweight. The most glaring example came at UFC 279, when the Chechen-Emirati star tipped the scales at 178.5 lbs for his scheduled fight against Nate Diaz, missing weight by a massive 7.5 pounds. That miss forced the UFC to reshuffle the card, with ‘Borz’ sliding down and eventually facing Kevin Holland instead, while Diaz faced Tony Ferguson.

While Chimaev clearly struggled at 170, the same cannot be said for middleweight. Since moving up, he has hit the scale comfortably and has even come in under the limit. Ahead of his UFC 319 clash against Dricus du Plessis, ‘Borz’ weighed just 183 pounds, coming in two pounds lighter than the middleweight cap and surprising many in the process.

Still, despite those numbers working in Chimaev’s favor, his UFC 294 opponent doubled down on his stance. The former welterweight champion compared the reigning middleweight champ to the late Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson, who competed across four divisions before finally settling at light heavyweight.

“Khamzat is a big guy. Khamzat has always been a big guy. The fact that Khamzat was making 170 is just as ridiculous as Anthony Johnson when he was making 170. RIP my big bro. But Anthony Johnson, I remember making that, moved up, fought at 85, and I think fought maybe one time, and I think even missed weight there at 85 after moving up and then settled at 205 pounds,” Usman added. 

Usman is right. ‘Rumble’ Johnson missed the welterweight mark at UFC 76:Knockout, and later at UFC 104: Machida vs Shogun. At middleweight, he missed weight against Vitor Belfort, for UFC 142: Aldo vs Mendes. Could a similar fate be awaiting ‘Borz?’

Now, with Chimaev holding the 185-pound title and no reports of him struggling with the weight, he may be simply chasing the most lucrative fight. But as the tension between ‘Borz’ and ‘Poatan’ continues to build, Usman’s co-host believes the matchup itself would be a nightmare for the Brazilian champion.   

Henry Cejudo weighs in on ‘Borz’ vs ‘Poatan’ matchup 

Alex Pereira vs. Khamzat Chimaev is one of those dream matchups that the UFC could make right now. This would be another classic stylistic clash between an elite striker and a suffocating grappler. But according to former two-division champion Henry Cejudo, ‘Poatan’ would be in serious trouble if he ever shares the cage with ‘Borz’.

“I don’t know bro, I think there’s still too many names out there before you go up. I think stylistically it’s a great fight for Khamzat. Khamzat beats him. I think he legit beats him. But he’s gotta go through his division first and then go up and challenge Pereira. Pereira don’t want that bro. He don’t want that match up,” ‘Triple C’ said on the Pound 4 Pound podcast.

As Cejudo pointed out, Chimaev presents a brutal stylistic challenge for Pereira. While the Brazilian powerhouse can shut the lights off with one clean left hook, ‘Borz’ holds a massive edge on the wrestling side. Even at light heavyweight, Pereira showed vulnerability against the relentless grappling of Jan Blachowicz (UFC 291) and the clinch pressure of Magomed Ankalaev (UFC 313).

Despite defeating both opponents, he looked overwhelmed on certain occasions. The middleweight champ could certainly amplify that problem with his explosive double-legs and nonstop pressure.

That said, how do you see this fight playing out if it ever happens? Let us know in the comments section below.