Dana White explains why he hates Kamaru Usman’s callout of Khamzat Chimaev
UFC president Dana White is not a fan of Kamaru Usman’s callout of Khamzat Chimaev.
Usman recently came out and said he would be interested in facing Chimaev his next time out as he thinks it would be a fun fight for the sport. But, he wasn’t sure it would take place at welterweight or middleweight and instead was interested in a catchweight.
“A fight with myself and Khamzat? Boom,” Usman told ESPN. “I’m kind of in a place now where I’m having fun with it, and what’s the biggest, funnest, most intense fight that really makes me feel something? That’s a fight right there. That could headline a pay-per-view…
“He’s a fighter and I’m a fighter at the end of the day,” Usman added. “I fight these guys heart, not their weight. I’ve been able to deal with middleweights and light heavyweights in the gym. And if he wants a shot at the welterweight strap, you kind of have to give a little bit and show I can get down there and do it. But if it’s up a weight, potentially.”
Now, following Kamaru Usman’s callout of Khamzat Chimaev, Dana White went on The Jim Rome Show and shot the idea down. According to the UFC boss, he says he has no interest in making catchweight bouts. Instead, he says if Usman really wants that fight he will go up to middleweight to face Chimaev.
“What I hate about that fight and (Usman) calling him out, Usman is calling him out at a catchweight, I don’t do catchweights, I don’t like catchweights. Catchweights mean nothing. They mean absolutely nothing. If (Usman) wants to move up to 185 and fight (Chimaev), we could talk about it. But trying to fight him at a catchweight, I’m not interested in,” White said on The Jim Rome Show.
As of right now, it’s uncertain if Usman has any plans on going up to 185lbs but that is the only way White will make the scrap with Chimaev.
Who do you think would win, Kamaru Usman or Khamzat Chimaev?
