Khamzat Chimaev opines that Kamaru Usman’s style is stuck in the past, like an old iPhone 5.
The Chechnya-born Swede had a last-minute alteration to his upcoming UFC 294 outing, where he was originally slated to take on Paulo Costa but due to the Brazilian’s withdrawl, “The Nigerian Nightmare” has stepped in to face Chimaev for a middleweight bout on short notice.
The guy comes just to make money: Khamzat Chimaev
The fight has been quite a high anticipation among the fans, even since the days when Usman was the welterweight champion and with the sudden booking of Chimaev vs. Usman, Chimaev feels it made sense for Usman to accept the bout as he looks at himself as the money fight in the 185-pound division.
“If he has the belt, I would go down, but the guy doesn’t have the belt, that’s why I don’t want to go down to [170], cut the weight for nothing,” said Chimaev at the UFC294 media day. “If there’s gold there, of course, I’m going to cut the weight, but he couldn’t take the belt [back from Leon Edwards] so that’s why he asked, ‘Who is that guy?’ I’m Khamzat Chimaev. That’s why you come up and fight with me.”
“The guy comes just to make money,” he went on, “It’s a lot of money put on that. I think he gets a lot of good money when somebody fights me. It’s different-level money. That’s why he’s here. Of course, he comes to win, everyone comes to a fight to win, but he already has an excuse and he’s getting paid, so I think that’s why he comes. Everyone here, a lot of guys talk about ‘My history, this belt, this s***,’ when somebody put the money out, millions—one day everyone will forget about that but the guy is going to have his money for his family. That’s why he’s here, I think.”
Recalling when the hype was created surrounding a potential fight against Usman, Chimaev opined that while he acknowledges the Nigerian’s skills, he sees himself as the newer “Pro” version, while calling Usman ‘iPhone 5″.
“Of course, because since day one I get to the UFC, everyone spoke about Khamzat-Usman, Khamzat-Usman,” Chimaev added. “Our wrestling skills, our striking, all of these things. Usman is a fighter like me, but he’s the old version, I’m new, different. Like iPhones come out, like iPhone 5, I’m like, Pro, it’s different.” [H/T MMA Fighting]
